Fallen Shinigami
by MaesLawliet
Summary: After losing one of his espada, Aizen has a new plan that involves the capture of Rukia. What does he have planned for her!
1. Arrancar Attack

**Fallen Shinigami**

**Author's note**: This story takes place during the time when Grimmjow and his Fracción attacked Karakura Town. I am aware that this chapter has a few differences to the anime but this story has different events.

Hope you enjoy!

I don't own Bleach or any of the characters in this story.

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**Chapter 1**

**Arrancar attack**

'Arrancar Dieciséis, Di Roy!' the arrancar introduced himself while attacking. He had sandy blond hair and had strange square shaped teeth. He wore a white uniform with black tabi and what looked to be white sandals. He had a strange shaped mask that looked like a sort of helmet which had bandages around it on the top of his head. His hollow hole was on his chest.

His opponent looked to be completely the opposite. She had raven coloured hair and violet coloured eyes that also looked like they had dark blue in them. She was wearing a black uniform with white tabi and light brown coloured sandals. Guarding herself from his attack, she replied '13th Division- '

'I don't really care for your name.' he said, interrupting her mid-sentence. 'You will be dead soon anyway so it doesn't matter!' He ruthlessly carried on his attack knocking his shinigami opponent back but not actually wounding them.

'Is that so?' the shinigami asked. 'You should however remember the name of my zanpakutō.' The female shinigami held her sword out in front of her and turned it 90 degrees anti clockwise. 'Mae. Sode no Shirayuki.' Di Roy noticed that her sword had changed completely.

'Some no Mae. Tsuki Shiro!' The blade began to glow and she then slashed her sword to the side causing a large circle of ice to appear around Di Roy's feet which began to freeze him. He looked down at his feet but didn't look too worried as he broke out of the ice and jumped high into the air.

'Too bad shinigami!' he taunted. 'You can't hit me up here with a move that affects only the ground' He continued to laugh at her failed attempt to kill him

'It's a shame that you don't know the true abilities of my zanpakutō.' She smirked.

A solid pillar of ice shot up from the ground reaching the sky completely freezing the arrancar. The first dance had frozen the arrancar with no possible way of escaping. The shinigami swung her sword to the side which suddenly caused the gigantic ice pillar to begin to crack and eventually shatter in to thousands of tiny ice shards that looked beautiful in the moonlight. She began to walk back to where her allies were.

'Agh! That hurts! What the hell are you doing?! You were only supposed to hold me down not break my arms!' Ichigo shouted. He was being held down by Chappy, Rukia's gigai. Rukia only instructed Chappy to keep Ichigo away from her fight against the arrancar. She didn't expect Ichigo to have caused this to happen. He had spiky orange hair which made him stand out among others and he wore similar clothes to Rukia.

'Rukia…'

Ichigo witnessed Rukia return from effortlessly killing the arrancar.

'Hmm?' said Rukia 'What? Did you think I wouldn't be able to defeat that arrancar by myself? You should have more confidence in me.' She stared at him with a cold gaze.

'N-no. It's just that I didn't think your powers had fully come back yet' he replied. 'That's your zanpakutō?'

Rukia's zanpakutō, Sode no Shirayuki, was a pure white zanpakutō. Everything on it was a beautiful snow white colour, the blade, the guard and even the hilt. It also had a white ribbon that extended from the end

He stared in awe at her zanpakutō. Chappy explained that Sode no Shirayuki was one of the most beautiful zanpakutō in the whole of the Soul Society. She also said that Rukia was strong enough to be a vice-captain although a certain someone pulled a few strings to keep her name off of the registered officers list. Ichigo was confused at first but he then figured out who it was who would do something like this. Byakuya Kuchiki. He brought Rukia into his family on the request of his wife who was Rukia's sister. Before she died she told Byakuya to find Rukia, bring her into the Kuchiki family and protect her. Byakuya knew that if Rukia was a seated officer she would be assigned to go on dangerous missions. He only chose to do this to protect her.

Some distance away from the arrancar's defeat, another arrancar sensed the defeat of one of his underlings and thought that the person who killed him must have been strong to kill him so quickly. He used sonido to quickly get to the location where he saw two shinigami who also noticed his presence.

'What is this heavy reiatsu?! It's so much stronger than the last one!' Rukia thought to herself.

'Arrancar Sexta. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez!' exclaimed the arrancar. He wore a similar outfit to the Di Roy. He wore a white hakama and what looked to be a jacket that revealed his hollow hole. His mask was a set of jaw bones that were on the right side of his face. He had light blue hair and had light green markings around the corners of his eyes.

'So it was one of you who killed him was it?' he asked. Both Ichigo and Rukia said nothing.

He looked at Ichigo and Rukia trying to figure out which one was stronger. Rukia could see the murderous glint in his eyes and his psychotic smile. She could tell he wasn't here to avenge the death of his subordinate

'Ichigo! Get back!' shouted Rukia. It was too late though. While Rukia had turned to face Ichigo, Grimmjow saw his chance to attack and plunged his hand into Rukia's stomach area narrowly missing the stomach itself.

Grimmjow laughed 'Heh. I didn't think you were the stronger one'. He removed his hand from Rukia causing her to collapse on the ground.

'Rukia!' yelled Ichigo as he rushed to attack Grimmjow activating his bankai, Tensa Zangetsu, at the same time.

The fight between the two lasted some time. Ichigo was clearly being beaten by Grimmjow, who hadn't even drawn his sword and was fighting wth his bare hands. Afraid of his inner hollow, Ichigo tried to suppress it but found he was getting weaker by doing so as he wasn't even able to get a direct hit on Grimmjow. Grimmjow continuously pummelled Ichigo, trying to get him to fight harder. He eventually managed to hit Grimmjow, who attempted to block it, with a black coloured Getsuga Tenshō in the chest leaving a large scar there. Finally seeing Ichigo as a worthy opponent Grimmjow drew his sword.

At that moment, another shinigami appeared. Ichigo recognized him as Kaname Tōsen. He along with Gin Ichimaru had joined Aizen in attempting to overthrow the Soul Society. When they were cornered by the rest of the captains they fled to Hueco Mundo not out of fear but out of triumph. Aizen knew he should retreat at that time so he could build an army to face the Soul Society.

'You didn't forget the mission did you, Grimmjow?' asked Tōsen with a stern voice 'I believe you weren't instructed to bring your subordinates along to fight the shinigami and you were only to use force as stated in the mission.'

'No I didn't forget.' Grimmjow was clearly irritated by Tōsen's words. He hadn't forgotten the mission it was just that he didn't want to do it. All he wanted was to have a good fight with the shinigami he hated so much.

'No matter' said Tōsen 'I have just completed it.'

Ichigo hadn't noticed that Tōsen had used shunpō to move somewhere else and back so quickly. This time Tōsen was carrying something in his right hand that was hanging downwards and not moving. Ichigo couldn't see what it was at first as Tōsen was quite a distance away. After moving closer towards him, Tōsen opened up a garganta to take him and Grimmjow back to Hueco Mundo. Just before the garganta closed, Ichigo stopped and looked in horror as he noticed what it was Tōsen was holding.

He held in his hand the wrist of an unconscious body. He could only watch as the garganta closed. He had no way of stopping them. He had no way of following them. He had no way of opening the garganta again. He could do nothing. Rukia Kuchiki, not knowing what had happened, had been taken.

'Rukia…'

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Authors Note**: What did you all think? It's my first story so be nice please. Please Review!


	2. What is Aizen's motive?

**Chapter 2**

**What is Aizen's motive?**

The garganta sealed up leaving no trace of the people who had just been there. Ichigo simply stared up at the sky where the garganta was. It was then that another shinigami appeared.

He also wore the same uniform but his appearance made him stand out when compared to other shinigami. He had crimson coloured hair that he kept in a ponytail near the top of his head. He had various tattoos on his face and he also wore a white headband. It was evident that he had also just fought an arrancar as shown by the cuts on his face.

'Ichigo' he said 'What's wrong?' Ichigo didn't reply and continued to look up into the sky. He looked irritated by Ichigo not responding to him. 'Oi Ichigo. What the hell's wrong with you? There's no one around so you won right?'

'No' Ichigo finally responded. 'Renji, I didn't win. I didn't even come close'

Renji looked confused. 'If you lost you'd be dead right now so what the hell are you doing acting all depressed?'

'I didn't say I lost' he said quietly. 'They took her, Renji' Ichigo eventually carried on. 'They took Rukia. Their mission wasn't to fight us. Their mission was to capture Rukia.' Renji said nothing. He looked almost apologetic as he had no idea what happened. Like she was with Ichigo, Rukia was very close to Renji as they had known each other for a very long time.

'Shit.' Renji swore as he slammed his fist into a nearby wall making a large indent in it. He felt powerless as he couldn't have done anything to prevent it. He didn't even know it had happened. Ichigo and Renji then joined up with the other shinigami who had just finished their own battles against other arrancar. Like Renji, both looked badly injured. Tōshirō Hitsugaya, captain of the 10th division, and Rangiku Matsumoto, vice captain of the same division.

Hitsugaya wore a white haori with 十on the back showing his rank as a captain. Hitsugaya was very young despite the fact he was a captain but he is considered a child genius. His vice captain wore an armband with 十on it around her waist showing that she was the vice captain of Hitsugaya's division.

'Hitsugaya taichō, Matsumoto fuku-taichō' said Renji to them noticing their injuries. The three of them were badly injured because since they were above the level of 3rd seat of a squad, they had limiters placed on them whenever they were in the human world. These limiters reduced their powers to about 20% of their full power so they wouldn't damage the human world. During their fights, they got permission from Soul Society to release the limiter and instantly kill their opponents at full strength.

Hitsugaya noticed them and approached them. He scowled 'Those arrancar were only small fry and we weren't able to beat them without releasing our limiters. This is bad. Aizen's army is already very formidable' he said darkly.

'Hitsugaya taichō that's not all. They've taken Rukia' Renji looked down as he spoke.

'What?' Hitsugaya's eyes were wide open. 'What is Aizen planning? He could be trying to force us to walk into Hueco Mundo into a trap' he thought. He couldn't think of any other reason why Aizen would take Rukia of all people. Surely Ichigo was a major threat to him so why was Rukia taken?

'Maybe we should talk to Urahara' Ichigo finally suggested. 'I don't know exactly why, but I feel that maybe he can help.'

'Do whatever you want' said Hitsugaya. 'I have to submit a report to the sō-taichou.' He and Matsumoto used shunpō to move somewhere else leaving Ichigo and Renji to see Urahara.

Ichigo and Renji arrived at the Urahara Shop. From the outside it just looked like an oridinary shop, but this was where Kisuke Urahara, former captain of the 12th division stayed. He helped Ichigo to train so he could rescue Rukia when she was taken away to be executed. Ichigo and Renji walked in to find Urahara sleeping with his hat over his eyes. He woke up upon hearing their footsteps.

'Huh? Ichigo, Renji, what are you doing here at this time of night?' he yawned. He had light blond hair and wore a sort of bucket hat that was white with green stripes. Although he was a shinigami he didn't wear the standard uniform. Instead he wore a dark green shirt and trousers of the same colour with a dark grey jacket on top. He wore geta that made his footsteps heard.

'We're just gonna say it straight out' said Ichigo. 'You know all about that hollow crap don't you? So you can probably make a portal to take us to that place where they all are right?'

After thinking about what Ichigo just said and using the correct vocabulary, Urahara replied 'I think what you're trying to say is 'can I make you a garganta to take you to Hueco Mundo?' Ichigo nodded. 'You'll be glad to know that yes I can make one but it will take some time to make it' he said. 'You don't have any reason that I can think of to be there so would you mind telling me why you're going?' he asked.

Ichigo and Renji explained the situation to Urahara. He looked down and scowled.

'I can't see Aizen's reason for doing this but I can guaranty that he's planning something big that can't be good' he said. 'I'm not sure if the plan was to specifically take Kuchiki-san. Maybe she was taken due to the fact she was unconscious. That's all I can think of for now anyway.'

Ichigo considered this possibility and suddenly thought that Rukia's powers had fully returned to her only recently. Renji pointed out Aizen couldn't have known exactly when Rukia's powers would come back. If she had been taken sooner, she would have had barely any powers and not have been of much use to him. Maybe Rukia really wasn't his target.

'Anyway' Urahara said suddenly. 'I should be able to open a garganta in about a week or so at the minimum.' Ichigo thought Aizen would probably have time to conduct his plan in the space of a week.

'Thanks, Urahara' Ichigo and Renji got up to leave when Urahara spoke again.

'I wouldn't expect what you are doing will be as easy as you think though. You won't be able to walk in, take her back and then leave again. Aizen obviously took her for a reason so he won't make it easy in any way. By the time you are there his plan may already be complete.'

'Yeah, we know' Renji said. 'But there is still a chance that his plan hasn't finished yet so we can stop it.' Urahara looked between both Ichigo and Renji. Renji looked at Ichigo and said 'We can't go in alone. We'll also need to do some serious training.' Ichigo nodded. He knew that he would need to learn to control his inner hollow; otherwise it would make everything much more difficult.

He remembered that someone offered assistance to do with his inner hollow. He thought that he should go and see him.

'Don't worry Rukia. We'll bring you back.'

'Ah Grimmjow, Kaname, you have returned' Aizen greeted them in his usual calm tone. 'I trust that you have completed the mission'. Tōsen held out his arm so Aizen could see Rukia who was still unconscious. 'Excellent. She will do just fine. But she looks like she is barely alive.' Tōsen dropped Rukia on the floor in front of him. She was still breathing but she was clearly weak. She looked like she was struggling to survive.

'She was like this when I found her, Aizen-sama' Tōsen replied. 'It was probably his doing' he said while looking at Grimmjow. 'Well? Shouldn't you apologize to Aizen-sama for ignoring your instructions?' he asked Grimmjow.

'No matter Kaname' Aizen said calmly. 'I'm sure he was testing himself and the strength of the shinigami. It just got a little out of hand I assume.' Aizen had a smile on his face.

'Yeah, that's right' Grimmjow replied. Tōsen couldn't believe what he had just heard. Grimmjow should be punished for ignoring instructions and for making such an obvious lie to avoid being punished. He decided take action himself, rapidly drawing his zanpakutō and just as quickly cut Grimmjow's arm clean off. Grimmjow stared at his arm that lay on the floor before Tōsen used a Hadō spell to completely incinerate it.

'You bastard!' shouted Grimmjow 'You're fucking dead!' He was about to draw his own zanpakutō.

'I'm afraid you will be punished further if you attack Kaname, Grimmjow. Do not worry Kaname, he can perform a job for me as punishment. Come back here later Grimmjow' Aizen said with his tone unchanging. Grimmjow scowled and gritted his teeth before walking off. Tōsen bowed to Aizen before he walked off too leaving Rukia on the floor where she was. Aizen smiled. He then picked up Rukia and walked away.

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Well, that's all for this chapter. I didn't think it was as good as the first one but still everything has some parts that aren't as good as the rest.

Be sure to review!!!

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Terminology:Well that's all for this chaptermsssa

十(jū)- 10 (in Japanese.)

Fuku-Taichou- Vice Captain

Geta- Japanese sandals made completely out of wood with a fabric to keep the foot on it.

Hadō- (Way of Destruction in Japanese) A type of kidō that has generally damaging effects

Haori- A haori is a sort of coat worn over their uniforms by the captains in Bleach. They have the Japanese numeral for their division number inside a diamond shape. Some are sleeveless.

Kidō- (Demon way in Japanese) Kidō is a technique that shinigami use to focus their spiritual energy into magic spells of various powers. It has 3 groups: Hadō, Bakudō and Healing Kidō.

Taichou- Captain


	3. Training

I don't own Bleach or any of the characters in this story.

**Training**

The next day, Ichigo told Uryū, Chad and Orihime about what happened the night before and what his plan was.

Uryū had his eyes closed, deep in thought. He was trying to figure out why Aizen would do this.

'Aizen must have some sort of motive for doing this' he said. 'What Urahara said about Rukia not being the main target seems the most likely explanation.'

Chad nodded and looked to Ichigo who still appeared to be blaming himself for what happened. 'It isn't your fault Ichigo' he said in a monotonous tone. 'You couldn't have known what Aizen was planning.' Ichigo looked up and smiled to Chad.

'Yeah, I know. Thanks Chad' he said before going back on topic. 'Urahara said he can make a garganta in a week or so. So we're all going to need to be ready.'

The three of them nodded, but they knew that they would have to do a lot of training. Uryū had lost all of his powers during their last rescue of Rukia. Chad hadn't fully mastered his abilities. He was almost killed by an arrancar twice but was saved by Ichigo's arrival. He wanted to fight alongside Ichigo, like they had in the old days when they would protect each other. Orihime had her attacking technique destroyed by an arrancar during a previous attack. She could only make a shield and heal others now. It would still be useful but she knew she would have to regain her attacking ability. Finally, Ichigo would need to learn to control his inner hollow. His hollow had said before that if Ichigo used bankai too much he would be able to gain full control.

Ichigo knew where he had to go. He remembered a strange student appeared at school and offered to help control his hollow. Ichigo knew back then that trusting him would be a bad idea but he knew he had to do it.

A few days before, Uryū's father had saved him from an arrancar and offered to help him regain his powers as a Quincy. His father had forbidden him to ally himself with the shinigami. Uryū didn't plan on following this instruction as he was sure his father wouldn't care even if he did.

Chad went to Urahara to ask him to train him. He saw how powerful Ichigo had gotten after his training with Urahara. Chad also wanted to discover why he received his power. Orihime didn't know where she could go for training. She headed home expecting Hitsugaya and Matsumoto to be there.

'Yo, Ichigo!' a blond haired male said cheerfully. 'You finally considered joining us'

'Shut up Shinji' Ichigo quickly replied. Ichigo didn't know why but even when he first met Shinji, he had an uneasy feeling about him.

'Why else would you be here if you weren't going to join us?' he asked slyly.

'I need to do something but I need to get my inner hollow under control so I thought you could help me out a little with that last part.' Ichigo had no intention to join with Shinji and his fellow vizards. He just wanted to use them to help him get Rukia back.

'I don't like to be used, Ichigo' his tone was now very serious. 'And if I refuse?'

'We'll just have to do it the hard way' Ichigo reached for his zanpakutō and rushed towards Shinji. Shinji sighed before grabbing his own zanpakutō and blocked Ichigo's attack. The other vizards simply watched the fight while talking amongst themselves.

Chad approached the Urahara shop where Urahara was standing outside.

'Urahara-san' Chad said to get Urahara's attention.

'What do we have here?' he pushed his hat up with his fan so it wasn't covering his eyes. 'What can I do for you today?'

'Please, Urahara-san' Chad pleaded 'Train me.'

Urahara looked surprised by Chad's sudden request. He nodded and told him that he wouldn't be able to train him personally because he would be trying to create a garganta. He then called Renji who lived in the shop as he had nowhere else to go.

'Huh? What is it?' he asked sleepily.

'Abarai-san, I'm going to have to ask you to help train Sado-san here' he began. 'I'm sure that it will be beneficial to both of you. You can start whenever you want' he told the two of them.

'Yeah, whatever' Renji replied lazily. He was still concerned with what had happened the previous night. He knew the training would definitely help him to become stronger.

Uryū approached his father's hospital. He headed up to his office where he found him reading and filing through some documents.

'What do you want?' his father asked while still looking at the documents.

'I've accepted your offer' he stated. 'I will not ally myself with the shinigami again.' He found it easy to lie to his father as the two of them never really got along well after Uryū's grandfather died.

'Very well then' he placed the papers on his desk and stood up. 'Follow me.' He led Uryū to a lift and pressed the button to go to the lowest floor. Upon exiting the lift, there was a large door that was locked. He then inserted a key into the lock and opened the door, revealing a huge training area.

Orihime entered her home and walked up to her room where she found Hitsugaya and Matsumoto staring at a strange TV screen that looked like it had grown out of the ground.

'Wha- What's this thing!' She stared at the TV.

'We are reporting to the sō-taichō' Hitsugaya said bluntly.

'That's what this is for' Matsumoto explained. 'It's sort of like a TV and phone from this world put together. We can talk to the sō-taichō from this by talking to him as if we were standing right in front of him.'

The TV suddenly switched on showing the elderly head captain. 'I have been waiting for your report, Hitsugaya taichō' he said.

'Yes, sō-taichō' Hitsugaya bowed his head slightly. 'Aizen's forces are stronger than we originally thought. We couldn't defeat low levelled arrancar without releasing our limiters. We also sustained a loss during the battle. Rukia Kuchiki was taken by Aizen's forces.'

'Aizen's motive for that is unclear but we have discovered his ultimate plan' Yamamoto said.

Hitsugaya, Matsumoto and Orihime's eyes were suddenly wide open.

'His ultimate plan?!' Hitsugaya said in disbelief.

Yamamoto nodded. 'He wishes to create the ōken. It will allow him to open a gateway that will lead to the King of Soul Society.'

'There's a King of the Soul Society?' Matsumoto was confused.

'Yeah' said Hitsugaya. 'But no one has ever seen him. Most shinigami haven't even heard about him.'

'As I am the only one in the Soul Society who knows the location of the ōken, Aizen will have to make a duplicate' Yamamoto continued. 'He can only do so by using 100,000 human souls. The only place he can do this is in Karakura town.'

Everyone was shocked.

'That would mean Karakura town would be completely destroyed right?' Hitsugaya asked.

Yamamoto nodded. 'This, however, does not explain why he has captured Rukia Kuchiki. It would be best to not investigate this matter further. Aizen probably wants us to try to get her back so our forces will be weakened.'

'You're saying we should just leave Kuchiki-san there?' Orihime was shocked to hear what Yamamoto had suggested. He simply replied by nodding. 'No, we're going to rescue her!' Orihime couldn't bear to leave her friend behind.

'You will do nothing of the sort' Yamamoto responded. 'You are to tell Ichigo Kurosaki of Aizen's plans and that will be all.'

'I-I understand' Orihime was trying to fight back her tears. Soul Society would do nothing to help them rescue Rukia. She knew though that Ichigo would try to rescue her no matter what anyone said. She then left to find Ichigo and tell him what she was just told.

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I really can't be bothered to go into loads of detail with all the training that will be going on because you can basically just watch the normal episodes to do that.

Once again this chapter wasn't particularly brilliant mainly because it was basically like a few of the normal episodes with little bits I've added but I promise I will make the story different to the actual anime in the future.

Reviews would be appreciated!!!!


	4. Choice

**Chapter 4**

**Choice**

Rukia slowly opened her eyes. She found herself lying on a bed in a small room.

'Ugh, where am I?' she asked herself as she got up and looked around. There was only a small window that had bars over it. She looked out of it and gasped when she realized where she was. 'This- This place is... Hueco Mundo! No, does that mean I...' She immediately brought her hand up to her face expecting to find a mask on it.

She moved her hand over all areas of her face to see if there was a mask there. To her relief, there wasn't. She looked down at her body. She was still wearing her shinigami robes with a hole around the stomach area where Grimmjow had attacked her. There was no wound either. She had been completely healed. Rukia sighed in relief. After seeing she was in Hueco Mundo, she had expected to have become an arrancar.

'What's going on?' she thought. 'Aizen probably wanted me here so he could turn me into an arrancar.' Rukia couldn't understand what Aizen intended to do. Surely the best time to turn her into an arrancar was while she was unconscious.

'It's about time you woke up' a familiar voice said. Rukia turned to see it was Grimmjow. 'I was getting bored shitless waiting for ya.'

'You' Rukia scowled. 'Why am I here?'

Grimmjow shrugged. 'I was given orders to bring one of Kurosaki's Ichigo allies here.'

'One of Ichigo's allies?' she thought 'I wasn't the target?'

'Why would you have been the target? You ain't nothing special. I just wanted a good fight. I couldn't give a crap about that mission or you.' he said while walking towards her.

Rukia scowled. She reached for her zanpakutō as a response only to find it wasn't there. 'I should have known Aizen wouldn't let me keep it' she thought to herself. She then also noticed that Grimmjow only had one arm. She didn't care how he had lost it but she thought she might be able to at least get away from him. Without thinking about what she would do next, she then wasted no time by holding out her palm right in front of his chest. 'Hadō no san-jū-san! Sōka–' she was interrupted by Grimmjow who quickly covered her mouth before she could finish. She stared up at him with her eyes wide open. Grimmjow smiled menacingly before throwing her onto the floor. Rukia tried to get up but Grimmjow grabbed her by a part of her robes and slamming her into a wall.

'What were you planning to do if that worked?' he asked, still smiling. Rukia had one of her eyes closed in pain. A small trail of blood rolled down her face from the top of her head and from her mouth. 'Just because I only have one arm, it doesn't mean I'm _that_ weak.'

'Y- You bastard' Rukia managed to say through the pain. Grimmjow let go of her causing her to fall to the floor. He managed to resist the urge to beat her further.

'Aizen wanted to see you when you woke up so hurry up already' Grimmjow walked out of the room, leaving Rukia where she was on the floor. She was holding herself up with one arm when she noticed the blood on the floor below her head. She got up, using the wall for balance and wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve. She then tried to find her way to where Aizen was as Grimmjow neglected to tell her exactly where it was where Aizen wanted to see her. Rukia found that the way to Aizen's throne room was very straightforward. She then faced Aizen who was standing in front of his throne.

Aizen smiled. 'I was beginning to think we were to late when we healed you. I hope Grimmjow didn't injure you too badly' he noticed the blood on her face. Rukia wiped it away again. 'First I would like to give this back to you.' He held out a sword. Rukia could tell it was hers. She knew Aizen had no reason to keep it from her. Even if she did use it to escape, there would be nowhere to run to. She took the sword back.

'What do you want with me, Aizen?' Rukia ignored Aizen's comment.

Aizen held up a hand. 'Hold on for a moment. I will get to that soon. There is a reason you are here-'

'I don't care what you have to say!' Rukia was clearly irritated. More blood rolled down her face but she ignored it. 'Tell me why I'm here!'

'Very well then' Aizen smirked. 'You are going to help me with the destruction of Soul Society.'

'What makes you think that I would help you with that?' Rukia had no intention of helping out with anything Aizen wanted.

'Not too long ago, I lost one of my espada' he began. 'It seems she wasn't too popular among some of the others.'

'What does this have to do with me?' Rukia already had a feeling where this was going to end up.

Aizen continued 'Since then I have been trying to find a replacement. It was at this point I remembered something. Kurosaki Ichigo. My espada would be enough to defeat the Gotei 13 but he may be able to overpower them as his strength increases. That is where you come in. I think you know how this plan is going.'

'I'm that replacement.' Rukia said, unsurprised.

'That's right. You seem to be the best person for this particular job. He wouldn't fight one of his friends especially the one who gave him his powers' Aizen said.

One thing was still bothering Rukia. 'Might I ask why I haven't already become that replacement?'

'You should already know the answer to that' Aizen seemed to be stating the obvious to her. 'If you were already an arrancar, there would be no difference to what is happening right now. Although you would be my creation, you would retain your memories from your shinigami state which would mean you would still oppose me.'

'So you need my consent?' Rukia asked, already knowing the answer. Rukia was confused. Aizen's whole plan would depend on her answer. Aizen surely knew that she would never join him.

'Correct. You need a reason to fight for me. Erasing your memories wouldn't have been of much use as they would eventually return to you.'

'I refuse' Rukia said as soon as Aizen finished. She knew his plan wouldn't work if she didn't agree to it.

'Just as I expected' Aizen smiled. 'There is no reason for you to join me at this time.'

'Is that all then? Aren't you going to force me to join you?' She knew Aizen would have something planned. Aizen said nothing. 'I'll be returning to my room if you're done.' Rukia turned and began to walk back to the room.

Aizen wasn't done. 'Before you go you might want to know something.' Rukia stopped. 'It may interest you to know that Soul Society has no intention of rescuing you.' Rukia turned and faced him again.

'There's no way you could know that' Rukia tried to say in her normal tone.

Aizen smirked again. 'If you would accompany me briefly, I can show you' Aizen began to walk down a nearby corridor with Rukia following.

After continuing down several corridors, Rukia found that Aizen had led her to what looked like a laboratory. There was a large screen with a chair in front of it. Someone was sitting there.

'Szayel Apporo' Aizen said, facing the chair. The chair turned around. There was a pink haired arrancar with glasses sitting there.

'What is it, Aizen-sama?' he said.

'Show her the footage of what we saw an hour ago'

Szayel Apporo then pressed a few keys on the keyboard in front of him. He then pressed a final key causing the screen to show a video.

It showed an area in Karakura town that was just outside a house.

'I have many arrancar in the real world acting as surveillance' Szayel Apporo said. 'They are filled with bugs of my creation that allow me to see what they can see. This house caught this arrancar's attention. It detected two people with very high reiatsu.'

Inside the house, Rukia could see Hitsugaya, Matsumoto and Orihime looking at a large TV-like screen with Yamamoto on it. The video showed what Yamamoto told the three of them. Rukia was shocked to find out about Aizen's ultimate plan. The video continued to play with Rukia paying close attention.

'This, however, does not explain why he has captured Rukia Kuchiki. It would be best to not investigate this matter further. Aizen probably wants us to try to get her back so our forces will be weakened.'

'You're saying we should just leave Kuchiki-san there? No, we're going to rescue her!'

'You will do nothing of the sort. 'You are to tell Ichigo Kurosaki of Aizen's plans and that will be all.'

The video stopped. Rukia stepped back shaking her head in disbelief. 'No. This- this can't be real' her voice trembled. She knew it was the truth but she didn't want to accept it. 'You- You must have changed something.'

'I assure you this footage is of what truly happened one hour ago' Szayel Apporo turned his chair so he was facing Aizen and Rukia.

Without thinking, Rukia drew her zanpakutō and prepared to strike Aizen only to have the attack blocked by Szayel Apporo, who had also drawn his zanpakutō, still sitting in his chair. Rukia lowered her zanpakutō and fell to her knees.

'They managed to figure out my plan so I must applaud their efforts. But they have no clue about my other plan' Aizen looked towards Rukia.

'I- I still refuse to help you, Aizen' Rukia said weakly. _'Have they really given up on me? Why would they do that? I may not have a seated position but... do they even care for me at all?'_

'Is that so? Well then, I think it will be a good time for you to start your training. I can't have you losing your ability to fight when you change your mind.' Aizen gestured for Rukia to follow him again.


	5. Despair

'You said you're going to start training me, didn't you?' Rukia was following Aizen through a series of rooms and corridors.

'Yes' Aizen replied. 'You will train here every day to improve your strength. I will not be training you personally. I will simply observe your progress. After training for the day is complete, any injuries you may sustain will not be healed. You will train the next day with the injuries. You will only be healed if your life is in danger. Have I made myself clear?'

'Y-yes' Rukia felt uneasy after hearing what she would be doing every day. She was an important part of his plan so he wouldn't let her die or give her incredibly strong opponents. She was thinking that she would most likely be facing arrancar.

They eventually reached a room which had a large door at the back. Aizen made a gesture for her to go in. The door opened when she approached it and quickly closed after she had walked through it. There were several other doors in this room that were all closed and there was what looked like a window on one of the walls. Aizen was standing behind the window with Ichimaru. Rukia scowled when she saw him.

'Ya sure about this Aizen?' Ichimaru asked. 'She really doesn't wanna join us so I don't see the point of her bein' here'

'She will join us in time, Ichimaru' Aizen stated calmly. He watched Rukia look around the room. He then pressed a button causing all the doors to open revealing several hollows behind each one. As all the hollows steeped out of the doors, they all closed again showing no signs of escape. Rukia looked around and saw she was almost completely surrounded. 'This is your training. You will fight and defeat all of these hollows.' Aizen's voice was clearly heard despite the window being there.

Rukia wasn't in the mood to do anything at this point after finding out that Soul Society had turned its back on her. She didn't think this would be too hard though. All the hollows around her weren't even menos. They were just ordinary hollows. She drew her zanpakutō and easily blocked an attack from a hollow that was flying towards her.

_A week and a half later_

Ichigo and the others began training even harder after being told about Aizen's plan. Ichigo seemed more focused than any of the others after being told that Soul Society would play no part in Rukia's rescue. Ichigo planned on rescuing Rukia no matter what anyone said. He knew that Rukia would expect him to get there soon and he wasn't planning on disappointing her.

When Renji was told about what was happening, he resumed his training with Chad only to find himself attacking more aggressively out of rage on Yamamoto's decision. By accident, he launched an attack at Chad that would have killed him if he dodged even a second later.

There were few arrancar appearing in the area. As Ichigo and the others were preoccupied with training, Hitsugaya and Matsumoto had to take care of them. Hitsugaya wasn't sure why less arrancar were appearing. When they did appear, they were only in small groups of three or four. He noticed that attacks from them were becoming rare ever since they took Rukia to Hueco Mundo.

'Was Rukia a part of another one of Aizen's plans?' Hitsugaya thought to himself. Hitsugaya considered the possibility of what Yamamoto had said about Aizen making a trap if they went to save Rukia. Every way that he thought about it, that theory was the most likely possibility but there was a small doubt that he felt he couldn't ignore. 'Something doesn't add up' he thought.

Ichigo was beginning to get irritated as Urahara still hadn't completed the garganta. He felt that whatever Aizen planned to do with Rukia had already happened. He didn't know why but he felt this with every passing day. Ichigo, sick of waiting, eventually went to see Urahara to see how the garganta was progressing. He had a feeling that he should go there in his shinigami form.

'Damn it! Where did I put it?' he said to himself. He looked around his room trying to find the shinigami badge that allowed him to enter his shinigami form whenever he wanted. Up until now, Kon was using his body so no one would notice that Ichigo was missing. He didn't like to let Kon use his body because he usually got into trouble but this time he thought that this way would be easier than leaving his body somewhere.

Now deciding to look for Kon instead, Ichigo immediately had an idea where he would be. He opened the door of his closet, where Rukia usually slept, and found Kon lying in there asleep. Ichigo didn't even want to know why he was in there. 'Oi Kon' he called him causing Kon to wake up instantly

'Gah!' he was shocked to see Ichigo. 'How dare you wake me when I'm dreaming about nee-san!' He suddenly burst into tears as he remembered Rukia wasn't here. 'Nee-san! Come home!' he cried.

'Shut up will ya' Ichigo didn't even want to know why Kon was dreaming about Rukia so he shoved his hand inside Kon's mouth, trying to grab the pill inside. Kon was now making noises to show his disapproval of Ichigo's sudden act. Eventually finding the pill, Ichigo pulled it out and Kon's body went limp. Ichigo then swallowed the pill causing his shinigami form to come out.

'I'm going to see Urahara' he said. 'I don't know when I'll be back so take care of my body and please don't do anything stupid with it' He put a lot of emphasis on the last part, remembering what Kon had done while using his body in the past. He climbed out the window and set off to Urahara's shop.

Ichigo finally arrived at the Urahara shop. He walked in but he couldn't find Urahara. He went down into the training ground and found him there. Urahara was already aware of Ichigo's presence.

'Urahara' Ichigo said as he approached him. 'How long until that garganta's done?'

'Ichigo' he looked serious. 'I was about to call you over here myself.' Urahara never usually was serious but Ichigo knew that when he was, something was definitely wasn't right.

'Huh?' Ichigo looked confused. 'You were about to call me? What's up?'

'The garganta is finished'

Ichigo suddenly lit up. 'That's great' he said.

'But…' Urahara continued 'It is unusable. When I say 'it' I mean 'they' are unusable. I have created several.'

'What do you mean 'it's unusable'?' Ichigo was suddenly serious too.

'I'll show you' Urahara turned and he began to chant something. 'My left hand is the blade that binds reality. The black-haired shepherd is hung from a chair. Stratus clouds come, and I strike down the ibis.' At that point, a void opened between two posts that were dug into two giant rocks in front of them. Ichigo stared at it but then he looked surprised as the garganta began to close. It got smaller and smaller until it eventually disappeared.

'What?' Ichigo was confused when he saw what happened. 'What just happened? It closed.'

'Exactly' Urahara said. 'There is no time to enter it. As soon as it opens up, it closes almost instantly.'

'What does this mean?' Ichigo asked.

'It means that getting to Hueco Mundo will be impossible.' Urahara said darkly.

Ichigo's eyes were suddenly wide open. He was at a loss for words. 'Couldn't you have just made a mistake when making it?' he eventually asked. Even though he said it, he already knew the answer. There was no way Urahara would have made a mistake while making the garganta.

Urahara didn't answer the question. 'On the other side, someone is preventing us from using it.'

'Aizen' Ichigo said under his breath.

'I'm sorry Ichigo' Urahara said in a low voice. 'Rescuing Kuchiki-san will be impossible'

Ichigo punched a nearby boulder causing it to break. 'Rukia. I'm sorry.'

Sorry it took so long to write and yeah I know it was kind of short. I was going to write sooner but I kept forgetting.

Anyway, more plot build-up from this chapter. With the garganta not being able to stay open, Rukia's rescue won't be happening anytime soon!

Don't forget to review! They give me ideas sometimes :P.


	6. Loneliness

Bleach and the characters still don't belong to me. I really wish they did though.

**Chapter 6**

**Loneliness**

A few more days passed. Ichigo felt miserable. He felt as if he had just given up on her. He told everyone else about what Urahara told him a few days back. They're reactions were similar to Ichigo's. They didn't tell Yamamoto about what they had planned to do as they all felt it would be a waste of time telling him they wouldn't rescue Rukia that he had already told them not to. Ichigo tried not to imagine what it must be like for Rukia. The more he thought about it, the angrier he felt. He would personally kill Aizen if he did anything to her.

'Damn you Aizen' he muttered. Yamamoto also ordered Ichigo and the others to train for the upcoming war against Aizen. Ichigo still hadn't finished his training with Shinji and the other vizards. He had only gained slight control over his inner hollow. 'Rukia. I'll definitely find a way to reach you.'

* * *

Rukia was lonely at Hueco Mundo. She hated it. She was only here so she could be used. No one wanted her here for any other reason. She missed everything about being in the real world. Whenever she wasn't training, she just sat in her room unless she was told otherwise. She was visited occasionally by Grimmjow as he was assigned to take care of her as punishment for disobeying orders. Eventually though, Grimmjow's duties were taken over by Ulquiorra. This was the result of many arguments and many injuries for Rukia. Rukia didn't mind Ulquiorra's visits as he only said what needed to be said and then left as opposed to Grimmjow who would always find something to argue about.

She placed her hand over her left arm. There was a large claw mark on it stung slightly and was bleeding a little. She was used to being healed shortly after being wounded but she knew what Aizen had told her. It happened earlier during her training. She had only just killed the hollow as it began to dig its claw into her arm. It could have torn her arm off if she hadn't managed to fight through the intense pain it caused at the time. She hoped it wouldn't cause her to gain any more injuries.

She sat on the bed in the corner of the room and stared at the floor. She turned to the side and looked at her sword. Several times she had thought about killing herself here to prevent whatever else it was that Aizen had planned for her. But she could never do it. Even if it meant stopping Aizen's plans, she couldn't bring herself to do it. In truth, she feared her own death. When she was in Soul Society to be executed, she felt that she should have died because she thought she had caused the death of Ichigo.

At that point, the door opened. Rukia looked up slightly. She expected it to be Ulquiorra but it was an arrancar she hadn't seen before. He was incredibly tall and had shoulder length black hair. He also wore an eye patch over his left eye. He began to walk further into the room.

'Well, what have we got here?' he said. He had an unusually large smile which showed the top row of his teeth. Rukia stood up. It wasn't until then until she noticed that she was almost a metre shorter than him. 'Quinto espada, Nnoitra Jiruga' he said. Rukia stepped back slightly, fearing what he might do to her.

'Aw come on. Don't be like that.' His evil looking smile was becoming wider. 'We're all gonna be on the same side eventually so why the hell're ya shittin' yerself?'

'No' she said after gaining some confidence. 'We'll never be on 'the same side'. I won't join Aizen no matter what you say.'

He smirked. 'You would say that wouldn't ya?

'What are you doing here anyway?' she asked. '

'I just thought I'd check out the prisoner' he smirked. 'Grimmjow told me the prisoner was pretty hot. Looks like he was right' he said while examining her figure.

Rukia turned away from him while attempting to ignore what Nnoitra just said. 'I'm not a prisoner' she said briefly. She didn't consider herself to be a prisoner.

'If you ain't a prisoner, what are ya then?' He still had a large grin on his face.

Rukia tried to find an answer. 'I'm just a part of Aizen's plan' she said quietly.

'Oh, I get it now' he said. 'Yer just one of Aizen's pets.'

Rukia clenched her fist. She didn't want to see how far she could push him before he snapped. He already looked menacing enough. This guy was a rank above Grimmjow and she couldn't even escape from him when he had only one arm.

'If I were you right now, I'd have joined Aizen straight away. Best to side with the winning team, don't ya think? Especially since yer old place gave up on ya.' He smiled wickedly before remembering something Aizen told him. Aizen had told all the espada about his plan and he also encouraged them to convince her to join them. 'Just think about it. All the power you'd have and no one tryin' to protect ya all the damn time.'

Rukia looked shocked as he said the last part. Everybody was always protecting her. No one had any confidence in her abilities. She was always given minor tasks that didn't involve fighting. Deep down she wanted more power so she could prove to everyone she was capable of protecting herself. But she didn't want this kind of power. A small part of her actually considered accepting the offer but she quickly dismissed it. 'Why do you care what I choose to do?' she said.

'I don't really give a shit whatever ya choose to do.I just want a good fight against someone new. That ex-espada just kept bitchin' at me the whole time. That's why I got rid of her.' He smiled as he remembered what he did back then. 'Aizen plans to turn ya into a real powerful arrancar. What have ya got to lose

'Even if Soul Society gave up on me, Ichigo never will. That's why- that's why I will never join this army!' She didn't know why she was telling him this. She knew he was trying to give her a reason to fight for their side so she assumed Aizen had sent him here.

'Ichigo? Oh, you mean the guy who's bein' a pain in the ass for Aizen' he suddenly looked interested. 'If he's anything like you say he is, I should get a hell of a fight from him. If you ain't with us by then, you can watch as I kill him.' He smirked as he thought of that moment. He began to walk out. 'Oh wait' he stopped just before exiting. 'You wouldn't be alive if you didn't join join us by that time.'

'What did you say?' Rukia suddenly looked at him. Most of the time, she was giving him little attention.

'Aizen said if that Ichigo guy ain't here in about a week or so and if ya still disagree to his offer, he'll kill ya.' Nnoitra smiled evily. 'I'd rather kill ya in front of that guy. Maybe then I'd get a better fight out of him.' He laughed again and walked out.

'Aizen will kill me if Ichigo doesn't come?' She kept repeating it in her head. Rukia sat down on the bed again. 'Ichigo. You will come here won't you?' She rested her head on the pillow and tried to get some sleep. 'Before I'm killed would be nice.' She smiled a little before it disappeared from her face

Yes I know this chapter was a bit short but I thought that was a good place to finish for now.

Despite what you think after reading a certain part of this fic, there aren't going to be any character pairings. I just thought Nnoitra might say something like that.

Sorry if Nnoitra was a little out of character but I did the best I could.

Don't forget to review!


	7. Pain

If I was Tite Kubo, I would own the Bleach and the characters but I'm not so therefore I don't own the characters or Bleach.

It's everyones favourite story, Fallen Sinigami! I have received many emails that tell me about the many people who have reviewed, favourited and put story alerts on this story. So that must mean I had a good idea for a story! Thanks everyone! Well my GCSE result in English was a B so I was happy with that. It must be why my story is good :D. Not bad for a story that was originally part of a dream huh? Well here's chapter 7.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Pain**

Rukia eventually woke up after somehow getting some sleep. She had no idea of the time in Hueco Mundo as the sky was always the same outside. She assumed it was probably late morning time as she remembered lying on her bed for a long time before she finally felt sleepy.

She looked over at a cabinet-like thing where her sword rested. On top of it were robes that the arrancar wore. Rukia had been given these to wear when she first woke up in Hueco Mundo. She refused to wear them though because she felt it would show weakness to Aizen. A part of her deep down felt that Soul Society had betrayed her. She knew that it was a possibility but she chose not to accept it. The feeling was familiar to her. It felt similar to when Nnoitra had tried to convince her to join them by reminding her that she was always being protected. Rukia thought that it was probably the darker part of her heart wanting her to give in to the temptation of the power she would receive. As time passed, she found it harder to suppress these feelings.

As she sat up, she suddenly grabbed her arm in pain. She pulled back her sleeve to look at the wound again. It had stopped bleeding but that wasn't her concern. She knew that her training would be coming soon. If her arm was still causing pain, she would end up gaining more injuries. There were a few other minor scratches over her body shown by the rips and tears in her robes. They had left large marks but they didn't hurt at all.

The door opened and Ulquiorra steeped through it. Rukia said nothing to him as she knew he probably wouldn't respond or give her an answer longer than a sentence.

'You are to report to Aizen as soon as you are able. It would be wise to not keep him waiting' he said briefly. He left almost instantly after speaking.

Rukia slowly stood up and took her sword. Her left arm felt almost limp. There was barely any feeling in it. She knew Aizen had planned her training now. She walked to where she usually had her training and found Aizen standing there. After some time, the feeling in her arm returned but it still ached a little

'I do hope you are well enough to complete this session' Aizen smiled. Rukia placed her hand over her arm. She said nothing as she walked through the same door again and as usual Aizen stood behind the glass screen where he pressed the button which let the hollows in. Rukia had noticed that the amount of hollows had decreased but they were getting more powerful.

As usual, Rukia let the hollows move first before blocking their attacks and striking them when she pushed them back. There were roughly ten hollows this time and Rukia had managed to kill most of them with relative ease. She faced the final two in front of her. The hollows moved around slightly, waiting for their moment to attack. Rukia raised her sword preparing to repel their imminent attacks. Suddenly, she felt something was wrong. The pain in her arm suddenly intensified. For all the time before this, she had managed to ignore the pain but she could ignore it no longer. She fell to her knees whilst holding her arm and crying out in pain. Her sword fell down beside her.

The hollows quickly noted her moment of weakness and leapt towards her. One of them thought her arm would be a good target while the other seemed to go for her head. Rukia had her eyes closed at this point but she could hear the hollows roar as they got closer. It was too late to dodge. She opened her eyes as one of the hollows was right in front of her. Everything seemed to slow down as she was struck.

Rukia's eyes were filled with shock. She hadn't looked to see where the hollow hit her. She felt nothing. Her eyes stared blankly at the other hollow as it slowly moved closer to her. It eventually got to her and it also managed to land a hit on her. She had closed her eyes tightly and moved her head back to avoid it killing her. She still felt nothing. There was no pain. She opened her eyes again but her vision was blurry. The last thing she remembered seeing was a transparent box that had appeared around her and a larger jet-black box surrounded it.

_Two weeks later_

In their hideout, Ichigo was still training with the vizards. He could now keep his hollow mask on for roughly eleven seconds. Shinji could tell Ichigo was making excellent progress but eleven seconds wouldn't be enough to finish a fight.

Renji and Chad were still training in Urahara's shop. Chad had shown many signs of improvement over the past few weeks. Uryū was still training with his father but no one knew of this since they were in the basement of a hospital that belonged to Uryū's father.

Hitsugaya's group were out in a forest on the outskirts of town. Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa were also part of the group but Ichigo and the others didn't see much of the two. Yumichika and Matsumoto were attempting to learn bankai with no luck. Ikkaku seemed to be meditating nearby. Secretly, he already knew bankai but he didn't want anyone to see it. The only other person to have seen it was Yumichika. Hitsugaya was standing nearby, looking off into the distance. He was still troubled by what Aizen was planning to do with Rukia.

A garganta began to open up in the sky. Four arrancar stepped through it. Hitsugaya was quick to notice the heavy reiatsu nearby. He alerted everyone else before taking their battle positions. Two of the arrancars appeared to be talking to each other. One of them used sonido and went somewhere else.

Ichigo then felt a familiar reiatsu nearby. He remembered who it was. It was Grimmjow.

'Sorry, Shinji but I'm goin' out for a minute' Ichigo wanted answers from Grimmjow about Rukia. His training could wait.

'You got friends around here ain't ya? Let them kill 'em. You've got training.' Shinji knew his words would be ignored. Ichigo simply walked out without saying anything else. 'Jeez, guess I better follow him.' Shinji took his own zanpakutō and set off after Ichigo.

Grimmjow and Ichigo had just found where each others reiatsu was coming from.

'Heh. Long time no see, Kurosaki' Grimmjow smiled evily.

'What did you do with Rukia?' Ichigo demanded to know.

'Rukia? Oh yeah, I remember her.' He laughed. 'She's been stayin' at our place. She still believes you're gonna come and help her and all that shit. How do ya think she feels when she's been there for almost two months?'

'The only reason she's not back here now is because Aizen won't let us in. So you're going to take me there after I beat you.' Ichigo seemed more determined than ever

(Note: The fights here will be the same as the anime so I'm not going to describe it. The only difference is that Rukia won't appear to save Ichigo. Shinji will do that instead.)

Elsewhere, Orihime was trying to find the others. She could sense their reiatsu but she couldn't get around very fast. She then stopped as she noticed a garganta open in front of her. Ulquiorra stepped out of it.

(Note: This part will also be the same as the anime. I just wanted to mention it so it wasn't missed out.)

_Hueco Mundo- Two weeks ago_

Rukia opened her left eye. She had attempted to open both but her right eye would not open. She brought a hand up to it and felt a bandage around part of her head that also covered her eye. She looked around and found she was in her room again. Aizen stepped through the door.

'You were hurt quite badly during that last session. You would be dead right now if I didn't step in with Kuroihitsugi (Black Coffin) and that barrier' he said calmly.

'You saved me? But you said-' Rukia was cut off by Aizen

'I said I would heal you if you were near death. You were going to die so I prevented that. Both your eye and your arm were severely wounded before that.' Aizen left after speaking

'My arm?' Rukia was confused. She felt no pain in her right arm and her left arm stung as usual. She looked down at her left arm and her eyes were wide in shock. She knew why it didn't hurt any more than usual. Tears began to form in the corner of her eye while a wet spot appeared on the bandage over the other eye. She whimpered slightly as she brought her knees up and buried her head into them. The tears running down her face wouldn't stop. She brought her right hand over her arm just beneath the shoulder. That was all that remained of her left arm.

* * *

Poor Rukia :(. It's my own story and I feel bad for her. Before you ask, yes Orihime has also been taken by Aizen so the story could move forward. The reason I put the two Rukia parts in different places was because I thought it would be better to build up a little suspence.

Don't forget to review!


	8. Life or Death

If I owned Bleach, some of this stuff may have happened in the anime or manga. Since it hasn't happened in either, that means I don't own Bleach or the characters.

Ugh, I would have uploaded this yesterday but it wouldnt let me. To make up for it though, this chapter is longer!

**Note**: Everything that involves Ichigo in the real world is the present time. Everything that involves Rukia in Hueco Mundo happened in the past (two weeks ago to be exact). When the story moves to Rukia, Orihime has not been kidnapped yet unless I say otherwise.

This is intentional as it is how I have planned the story. So, don't ask questions about it since I have just explained it (I think). Ask questions if my explanation makes no sense to you.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**Life or Death**

Rukia simply lay on the bed in her room staring at the wall. She hadn't moved since she woke up with half of her left arm missing and only one usable eye. She felt constant pain from both. Her arm hadn't caused any pain to begin with but as time passed it felt as if the wound from before was still there. Aizen had told her that this was the last day before he would kill her if Ichigo didn't turn up.

Even when she was told to attend training, she didn't move from where she was. She didn't care what Aizen or anyone else thought of this. She didn't eat any of the food that was given to her either. It just sat on the floor where it had been placed by Ulquiorra or a lesser arrancar.

She often found herself in her spirit world inside her own soul. Her spirit world was a large forest with snow almost everywhere. It covered the entire ground and all of the tops of the trees. A gentle snow always fell from the colourless sky. Whenever she was there, she always appeared in the same place of the forest. She was always in a circular clearing with a single tree in the middle. It was larger than all of the other trees in the forest. Rukia assumed this was the exact centre of the area. She hadn't seen much of the forest as it was so vast.

While inside the spirit world, Rukia had the use of both of her eyes and her left arm looked as if nothing had ever happened to it. There was always a beautiful woman wearing a white kimono standing in front of the centre tree. It was Sode no Shirayuki. Her friends and Sode no Shirayuki were the only reasons Rukia was still a shinigami at this point. If one of them or neither of them were there, Rukia would have given in to the dark part of her heart a long time ago. Sode no Shirayuki knew this as she knew all of what Rukia felt and did.

'I don't know what to do anymore.' Rukia approached her. 'I can't take the pain for much longer. I just want it to stop.' She had her head down, facing the snow covered floor.

'You mustn't give in to the darkness Rukia' she said. She had a very soft and kind voice. 'You will get through this.' She placed a hand on Rukia's shoulder. 'You still have my power.' Rukia looked up into her eyes. Rukia smiled at her. She was then blinded by an intense white light.

She was outside her spirit world now. She was back inside her room in Hueco Mundo. She sat up and reached for her sword. She held it close to herself. She then stood up and faced one of the walls. She held out her palm which was parallel to the wall.

'Hadō no san-jū-san! Sōkatsui!' A wave of blue reiatsu shot out of her hand and destroyed the wall. She looked out and saw there was only the sand of the immense desert of Hueco Mundo. 'Mae! Sode no Shirayuki!' She pointed the blade towards the ground and called 'Tsugi no mae. Hakuren!' As she said the words a huge wave of ice came from the end of the blade. It froze instantly, forming a path for her that led down to the ground.

She didn't know why she was doing this. There was no escape from Hueco Mundo. The only exit was by using a garganta. She stepped onto the pathway she had just created and slid down to the bottom. She faced the fortress again before turning around and running. She ran as fast as she could despite not knowing where to go or how it would benefit her in any way.

'Nii-sama, Renji, Ichigo. Someone, please. Help me.'

* * *

'I forbid you from entering Hueco Mundo. You are all needed for the upcoming war. As far as we are concerned, Inoue Orihime has betrayed us.' Yamamoto was on the screen talking to Ichigo and Hitsugaya's group.

'What the hell are you talking about!?' Ichigo yelled at him showing no respect to the elderly commander. 'Inoue wouldn't betray us. She must have been taken like Rukia was.'

'You witnessed Kuchiki Rukia being taken away. She is confirmed to be a prisoner of Aizen' he stated. 'However, you did not witness what happened to Inoue Orihime. We can only assume she agreed to going to Hueco Mundo. Hitsugaya taichō, your group is being pulled back to Soul Society to strengthen our defences. This is an order. To make sure you comply. Zaraki Kenpachi and Kuchiki Byakuya will be escorting you back.'

A senkaimon opened behind everyone. Byakuya and Kenpachi were standing there.

'We are here to take you back with force if necessary' Byakuya said in his usual cold voice.

'You better make this easy for us' Kenpachi seemed bored. 'I really ain't in the mood for fightin' any of you.'

Hitsugaya's group turned and accompanied them back through the senkaimon.

'Byakuya!' Ichigo called. Byakuya stopped. 'Why are you doing this? Rukia's there too.'

'Kurosaki Ichigo. Rukia has been missing for almost two months.' He turned to face Ichigo. 'Don't you think we know about your rescue attempt when you saw Urahara? He is the only one who can make a garganta. We cannot do anything to help.' He continued walking away as the senkaimon closed.

'Shit' Ichigo cursed. He decided to see Urahara once more to see if he could keep the garganta open long enough for them to go through.

Ichigo arrived at the Urahara shop. He went down to the secret training ground and found Urahara, Chad and Uryū there.

'Kurosaki, you kept us waiting' Uryū pushed his glasses up.

'Wha- what are you all doing here?'

'Urahara-san called us here' said Chad. 'The garganta he made stays open this time.'

'That's right Kurosaki-san. I don't know why but I tried it one more time and it stayed open' Urahara pulled his hat down over his eyes slightly. 'Aizen probably did this for a reason but still we have to take advantage of this.'

Urahara opened the garganta and, just like he said, it stayed open.

'Rukia, Inoue. Don't worry. This time we will save you.' The three of them jumped through the garganta.

* * *

Rukia had been running for what seemed like forever to her. She was desperately trying to find someone to help her. She wouldn't believe Aizen who said Ichigo still wasn't here after almost a month. For all the time she was running, she was exerting almost all of her reiatsu, hoping someone would detect it. As almost all her reiatsu was being exerted, it drew many hollows towards her. As they approached her, they were almost instantly frozen by the reiatsu, moments later they would shatter into thousands of tiny ice crystals. They were only weak hollows that weren't even menos so they weren't able to get close enough to her.

Rukia was exhausted though. Releasing the majority of her reiatsu tired her out quickly. She was breathing heavily and was trying to keep herself from collapsing.

'Why am I running away?' she kept asking herself. 'I'll die out here quicker than I will back there. Everyone probably knows I've escaped by now. They're probably after me right now.' She knew it would be easy for them to find her. Everywhere she went looked the same to her. She looked back and could barely see the fortress. She had gone quite far in however much time it was she was running.

Rukia continued running but it was at a slower pace than usual. She was completely worn out. She could run no more.

'Damn it… DAMN IT!!!!!!' she shouted. 'Why- why am I so weak?!' She collapsed on the floor with her arm outstretched still holding Sode no Shirayuki. She was still conscious but she could barely move. She let go of Sode no Shirayuki and tried to stand up again. Everything was so much harder to do with only one arm. It was no good. She couldn't keep herself up and fell back down again.

'Ichigo… why? Why didn't you come?' She had never felt so hurt on the inside before. She was lying on the sand, not able to move with Sode no Shirayuki now just outside of her reach. She knew she was going to die soon. She would have been found by someone by now. The hollows would get to her eventually.

Just then, she felt reiatsu nearby. She knew who it belonged to. It was the last person she wanted to find her. Ichimaru.

'Ah there you are Rukia-chan.' He had his usual grin on his face. 'You gave us quite a scare when we found out you weren't in yer room.'

'Leave me alone.' Rukia tried to turn away from him.

'Aww that ain't nice.' Ichimaru walked closer to her. 'It was nice of ya to release all of yer reiatsu though. It made my job much easier. We can't have ya dyin' out here, can we?'

He picked her up from the floor and carried her in his arms. He reached down and took Sode no Shirayuki too. He put it in her hand as if he was giving a toy to a small child. Rukia couldn't do anything to run away again. She was too exhausted.

'Ya better be thinkin' about what ya wanna say to Aizen when we get back' he said. 'Times up ya know. No one's comin' to help ya. So now, ya either die or join up with us. Just think about it as a choice between life and death.' He looked down at Rukia. Her face held no emotion.

'I know what I want to tell him' she said.

'Welcome back' Aizen greeted Ichimaru as he brought Rukia back to the Las Noches fortress. Ichimaru put Rukia down and bowed slightly before leaving. Rukia was able to stand up now. 'I do hope you didn't run into any trouble out there. Running away will not heal you. Only I can do that for you. You are still essential to my plan but it is now the final chance for you to decide your fate.' Rukia said nothing. 'So what will it be? Live and serve me or die. Should you choose death, I will make it swift for you.'

'I don't want to die. But I don't want to help you either' Rukia said weakly.

'That is a shame because you must choose one of the two.' Aizen was confident she would make the correct choice.

'I-I choose dea-' She stopped herself. She knew what this meant. If she wanted to live, she would have to choose the other option. Tears fell onto the floor. 'I want the pain to stop but I don't want to die.' She fell to her knees. 'Everyone has abandoned me. They don't care for me anymore. ' She clenched her fist. She left a long pause before speaking again. 'Please, Aizen.' She was practically begging now. 'I-I want to become an arrancar! I want to be stronger. I don't want to have to endure this pain again.' She said the words but something inside her told her that she would regret this choice.

Aizen smiled. 'A wise choice. Do you see how much easier it is for you now? You wanted to keep your life and you wanted power. Your choice means you get both.' Aizen reached into his pocket and pulled out the Hōgyoku.

* * *

Well, I think the next chapter will focus more on Ichigo and the others. This isn't a guarantee as I may decide to alter small parts of the story.

After the shock of the end part of this chapter I'm not going to say anything else about the story.

Review please!


	9. Darkness

Bleach and the characters belong to Tite Kubo. I am not Tite Kubo.

Change of plans. I was going to have this chapter focus on Ichigo and the others but I thought I should focus on the Rukia parts to clear up any confusion about the 2 week time difference.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Darkness**

'The Hōgyoku does not have the power to turn you into an arrancar in your current form' Aizen explained. The Hōgyoku was sitting in the palm of his hand. 'You must first become a hollow. From there, the Hōgyoku's power will then turn you into an arrancar.' Rukia nodded. Aizen then removed the bandages around her right eye. There was a large scar over the majority of the right side of her face. She opened her eye slowly but she couldn't see anything with it.

'One of two things may happen. If your mind is weak, it may be consumed by a hollow which will result in you having no memory of this form. Alternatively, you may become an arrancar and retain your memories. If you are fine with this, we will start right away. ' Aizen smiled as he held up the Hōgyoku. He placed the Hōgyoku against her forehead.

It began to glow brightly. Rukia felt a strange sensation as it touched her forehead. It was then replaced by pain and agony as her head felt like it was about to split open. She then closed her eyes tightly as Aizen had taken the Hōgyoku away from her. She grasped her head with her hand and cried out in agony. A white coloured substance had begun to spread from her forehead around to the rest of her face.

'Stop!' she cried. 'Stop it! Please, kill me!' Her eyes suddenly opened again. The sclera of her eyes began to turn black and her irises began to change from the original violet to a gold colour. (Note: The sclera is the white part of the eye)

* * *

When her eyes opened at that time she was in her spirit world. Her body on the outside was beginning to change into a hollow. Rukia looked around the area. Everything was changing. The snow that usually fell had stopped falling. The snow on the tops of the trees fell down as the trees began to wither and die. The snow on the ground had begun to melt revealing the cold hard ground. The world around her was beginning to turn into a barren wasteland.

'What's happening?!' she said to herself. She reached out to touch one of the trees but it withered away before her hand could touch it. 'Did I… do all this?' She looked at her hands. She also noticed that the snow had started melting around where she was standing and had spread outwards from there. Rukia was the cause of this.

All that remained was the centre tree with a small amount of snow around it. Sode no Shirayuki was standing there as usual. She was looking directly at Rukia with a disappointed look on her face. Sode no Shirayuki turned her back to Rukia and started walking away from her.

'Shirayuki!' Rukia called. She was about to run after her to try and catch her but she was held back by something. She looked down at her arms and legs and saw them being held by dark hands. She struggled against them to get out of their grip but they were too strong. She turned around and saw what looked like a dark portal. It was where the hands were coming from.

'Sode no Shirayuki!' she called again. 'No, not you too! Please! Please don't leave me! COME BACK!!!' she shouted. She tried to reach out to her but Sode no Shirayuki said nothing. Rukia screamed as she was pulled into the portal.

'Goodbye. Kuchiki Rukia' Sode no Shirayuki said quietly. She kept walking away from where her master once was. She left a trail of snow behind her as she walked.

* * *

On the other side of the portal-like thing, Rukia was in complete darkness. She saw that she was still being held by the hands. It was strange because she could still see herself in the darkness.

'What is this place?' She looked around but could see nothing. 'Is this part of my spirit world?'

'No. This is not your spirit world' a strange voice said. Rukia looked around again to see whoever it was who was speaking but she still couldn't see anything. 'Kuchiki Rukia' it said. 'This place is the darkness of your heart.'

'Where are you? Show yourself!' she demanded. The voice began to laugh.

A strange thing appeared in front of Rukia. At first it looked like a large blob of dark purple slime. It then rose up from the floor and took a human form. It had no features on its face or any other part of its body. It then extended its arm and touched the area of her chest where her heart was. Rukia tried to move away but she was still trapped by the hands around her arms and legs. The thing then started to change from again. This time it had Rukia's form but without any visible features except for a mouth. Rukia stared at it in shock.

The dark Rukia chuckled. 'Interesting. Your true desire is power. You want to show everyone that you can handle everything yourself. Most people like you would want power to protect others. You only want it for yourself. How selfish of you.'

'No.' Rukia shook her head. 'You're wrong. That's not what I want!' Rukia then cried out in pain as the hands tightened their grip on her. The hand holding her left arm was holding on more tightly than the others. It kept squeezing her arm until it crushed what was inside it and ripped it off. It now matched what her arm was like on the outside. She even felt the same pain from it.

'It is pointless to deny what comes from your heart. We are inside your heart if you remember correctly. You will be released only when you accept the darkness of it.' The dark Rukia smiled. 'You know you are weak and everyone else knows that too. You need their protection. You would have died a long time ago if they were never there.'

'No! That's not true! I can protect myself!' The hand that was previously holding her left arm appeared in front of her. It then slashed the right side of her face so it was the same as it was on the outside.

'Amazing, isn't it? The more you deny it, the stronger the darkness becomes. Nobody likes to hear what they keep locked up in their heart and you are no exception.' The dark Rukia laughed. 'If you can protect yourself, why do you have only one arm and only one usable eye?'

'What are you?' Rukia managed to say through the pain.

'I am the darkness of you. I know everything about you' it said. 'Accept the darkness of your heart. Get rid of everything that made you who you were before. Only then will you gain what you truly desire.'

'I- I know I'm weak' Rukia said quietly. 'I always felt that Sode no Shirayuki's power wasnt enough. I wasn't even able to learn Bankai. Everyone else was getting stronger and I was left behind. That's why I want to become stronger.' The hands released their hold on her and she fell to the ground. Her arm seemed to reappear.

'Well said' it sneered. The dark Rukia walked towards her. It then waited for Rukia to stand up. Rukia had done what it had said. Nothing remained in her anymore. She locked away everything that made her who she was just like she locked away what she truly felt. The dark Rukia smirked before it walked into her body. 'Let me see if you are strong enough to accept me.' Rukia gasped as she felt it in her body. She then fell to the ground and writhed around in pain. She then suddenly stopped moving as her body relaxed. She the laughed to herself. 'Her mind was fairly strong it seems.'

* * *

Inside her spirit world, another Rukia appeared. This was where Rukia had locked away her previous self. It was all of what made Rukia the person she was in the past. This Rukia was leaning against one of the dead trees. Her eyes were blank as she stared at the floor and did nothing else. Sode no Shirayuki found her and realized it was all that remained of her wielder. She picked up the lifeless Rukia and held her in her arms. She simply stared off into the distance, unaware of what was happening. The true Rukia appeared up ahead. She wasn't like the lifeless one in Shirayuki's arms. She was fully aware of what was going on.

'Rukia, what have you done?' Shirayuki said to her.

'Rukia?' she replied in a confused tone. 'I guess that's the name of the former owner of this body. I'll think I'll use that name too.' She turned away and disappeared.

* * *

On the outside, Rukia stood where she was before in full hollow form. All that could be heard was her heavy breathing. A mask covered her face. All that could be seen of it were two yellow eyes. Her hair was now much longer and wasn't in its usual style. Most of it was in front of her face while the rest of it was now the full length of her back as opposed to how it usually stopped just past her shoulders. Her shinigami robes were almost completely torn but small parts still remained that covered her chest and part of her legs. Her hollow hole was fully visble on her stomach. There were large wings that seemed to have grown out of her back. They looked like they were made of the same material as her mask . Her right arm was also covered in the same material.

She looked around a little. She then looked down at her left arm. She lifted what was left of it and something looked like it was pushing through the end of it. An arm suddenly burst through. It was covered in the same material as the other arm but unlike the other arm, this one felt completely hollow. She could feel her other arm underneath the covering but there was nothing inside her new left arm. Aizen still stood in front of her. He had been waiting for the arm to regenerate. He then held up the Hōgyoku as it began to glow again. There was a blinding flash of light. The hollow Rukia roared loudly.

After the light began to fade, Aizen saw her kneeling on the floor. He smiled. His experiment was a complete success. The light cleared and revealed Rukia in arrancar form staring at the floor blankly. Her eyes were still the bright gold colour.

'Perfect' Aizen said. 'Kuchiki Rukia, welcome to my army.' Aizen smirked.

Rukia continued to stare at the floor. 'Kuchiki… Rukia?' She was confused. She didn't know what was happening. She then closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again the golden eyes were replaced by the normal violet ones. Her right eye was different though. It looked like there was a hint of green in it. Everything suddenly came rushing back to her.

She brushed the hair away from her face and brought her hand up to it where she felt a broken mask around her right eye. The mask had two parts sticking out of the top of it that smoothly curved over to the right. Her eyes then moved and focused on her left arm. It looked just like it did when she was in her hollow form. It looked sort of like armour over her arm but she knew that there was no arm to be covered. She moved it around a bit to get used to it. She then looked down at her stomach where her hollow hole was. It was just above her navel but just below her breasts. There was a sword in front of her. It was her new zanpakutō that contained the full extent of her new powers. She reached over to it and held it in her hands. She slowly stood up and realized that she was slightly taller. Her hair was still much longer and she blushed a little when she noticed her breasts were slightly larger.

'For now, you should return to your room and get changed' Aizen said. 'We will discuss everything else afterwards. 'As for your arm, it will be restored soon enough if you wish.'

'Thank you, Aizen-sama.' Rukia bowed before turning away to leave. She felt as if that was the right thing to say to him. He had given her what she had wanted and she was grateful for it. She smirked as she thought back to what she was like before. She had always believed that Ichigo and the others would come to rescue her. She laughed at how stupid she was to have ever depended on them. All the feelings she had for all of her so called 'friends' were gone. She felt only anger and rage towards them now. Her expression didn't show it though. Her expression was the same as it always was: cold and emotionless.

Rukia laughed to herself. 'Ichigo, you left me here to die. It's only fair that I get to do the same to you, isn't it?'

* * *

Sorry! No Rukia fanservice! I thought it would have been really weird if all of her robes were destroyed and Aizen would probably be enjoying what he would be seeing so that's why I didn't put that in the story.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't allow people to say Rukia is weak because she really isn't. I have only said it here because otherwise the story wouldn't move along.

It will probably take me longer to write chapters now as I have just started college so keep that in mind. I'm thinking of doing a drawing of Rukia as an arrancar. If I do get around to it I'll post a link at the end of a future chapter. I can't use any of these computer drawing things apart from Paint so it will be hand drawn if I end up doing it.

Reviews would be greatly appreciated!


	10. Loyalty

I dont own Bleach or the characters.

I have a new profile picture and updated my profile somewhat. So give it a read if you want.

I've had a load of college work to do so that's why it's a little later than usual. Also, most of this chapter wasn't in my original trail of thought. When I first wrote it, it was really short so I added some stuff in.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 10**

**Loyalty**

Rukia reached her room again. She tried to avoid being seen on the way there since her robes revealed the majority of her body after being almost completely destroyed during her transformation. Her hair was still covering most of her face so she fixed it so it was the way it was when she was a shinigami. The bang in front of her face now covered most of her eye. Her body looked as if it had aged slightly though she felt no different. She walked over to the cabinet thing and picked up the robes on it.

On top of it were black tabi with white sandals, a white hakama, a white jacket and a black sash. The jacket was different from the standard uniform. It was sleeveless and had a zip on it which opened from the bottom going upwards. The hakama had no modifications on it. Rukia removed what was left of her shinigami robes before putting on her arrancar uniform. The jacket revealed her navel and a small part of her hollow hole. Rukia assumed it was like this because she had grown slightly taller. She didn't mind though as she preferred it the way it was and it wasn't too revealing. She wasn't particularly a big fan of revealing clothes. She inspected her new zanpakutō. It was noticeably shorter than Sode no Shirayuki. The sheath was grey and it had a dark purple handle. The guard was rectangular and had two protrusions on it. She placed it in her sash. Sode no Shirayuki was still in her hands. It was the only thing left that reminded her of what she used to be. She looked at it briefly and then put it in the sash along with the other one. When she was done, she headed back to where Aizen was.

'I presume you are done' Aizen said.

'Yes, Aizen-sama.' Rukia knelt on one knee in front of him.

Aizen held up a hand. 'There is no need to be so formal all the time.'

'I apologize' Rukia replied. 'Aizen, give me a chance to show you my loyalty.'

'There is no need to rush things' Aizen said calmly. 'You probably don't know the extent of your abilities yet.'

Rukia never thought about that. She didn't think about testing her new abilities before seeing Aizen again. If she had been sent to do something now, she may have been seriously injured.

'I'll begin training before I do anything else in the future' Rukia eventually said.

'You may leave if you wish to train now.' Aizen was surprised by her loyalty to him already. Rukia stood up and bowed before leaving.

'Wow Aizen' Ichimaru said as he walked in with Tōsen. 'How'd ya get her to do that?'

'It should be obvious, Ichimaru' Tōsen said. 'She believes that everyone has betrayed her. She now only follows Aizen because of what he gave to her.'

Aizen smiled. 'She should be very useful to us.'

Rukia left the fortress to find some lesser hollows to test her abilities on. She found many of them in a large group. They hadn't noticed her presence yet. Rukia held up her palm and charged a cero. She was surprised at how she did it so easily despite not being able to do it before. It was just like using Kidō. The cero was a light purple colour. She released it and it instantly killed one of the hollows. All of them turned to face her. Many of them ran away sensing her reiatsu but some of them stayed where they were. They didn't move but it looked like they were waiting for her to strike again. Rukia smirked and then used sonido to move at a blinding speed. It was exactly the same as using shunpō. She drew her sword and effortlessly cut one of them in two. Its blood splashed onto her face but she didn't care. The others began to run away but Rukia intercepted them and killed them in one swift cut.

Rukia smiled as she admired what she had just done. As she sheathed her zanpakutō, she noticed Sode no Shirayuki. She unsheathed it. 'Mae. Sode no Shirayuki.' She was interested to see what would happen. The sword stayed exactly as it was. She laughed a little as she noticed the reaction. She closed her eyes and focused on it. She then opened her eyes again and saw her spirit world.

* * *

A few of the trees were growing again and snow was beginning to cover the ground. She looked around to find Sode no Shirayuki. She was standing behind her with the other Rukia sitting against a tree. Rukia smiled as she turned to face her. She stared at Rukia coldly.

'What's with the face, Shirayuki? It's not like you to use that expression.' Rukia looked straight into her eyes. Sode no Shirayuki said nothing. 'Well, whatever. It seems that I am unable to use my shikai. Would you mind explaining why that is?'

'I won't lend my power to a hollow' she said bluntly.

'Why not? I may be a hollow but it doesn't change the fact that I still am Rukia Kuchiki.' Rukia smiled again.

'You're not the part of her that deserves my power. You only want my power to become stronger.' She pointed to the other Rukia. 'The other part of you wants my power to help the people she cares about. She respects me for the power I give to her.'

Rukia laughed. 'You would think that, wouldn't you? I know what she truly wanted. She wanted more than what you gave her. She knew your power wasn't enough. You never gave her the chance to perform bankai. You knew that she would want more power once she learnt it which was why you never taught it to her.'

'That's a lie!' Shirayuki's sudden response surprised Rukia. 'She wasn't ready for bankai. She wouldn't have been able to handle it.'

'You always refer to her, don't you? You forget that I am the same person.' Rukia's expression was suddenly serious. 'You don't make the rules here, Shirayuki. This place is a part of me. If you won't give me your power, I have no use for you anymore.' Rukia held up her palm to use a cero.

'If you are Rukia, you wouldn't kill me.' Shirayuki didn't move from where she was.

'No. I wouldn't kill you.' Rukia lowered her hand slightly. 'However…' Her eyes focused on something else. 'I can kill her quite easily.' She began to charge a cero that was aimed at the other Rukia. Sode no Shirayuki ran in front of her and summoned a wall of ice to block it. The cero hit the ice which then shattered. Sode no Shirayuki was unharmed. She was staring coldly at Rukia again.

'You won't kill her as long as I'm here.' She remained where she was; ready to protect her from another attack. She paused. 'What happened to you Rukia?'

'I opened my eyes' Rukia smirked. She then began to fade away as she left. On the outside, Rukia sheathed Sode no Shirayuki and dropped it on the ground. She looked at it briefly and walked away from it. It sat alone on the desert sands.

* * *

After a few more days of killing mindless hollows Aizen approached her. 'You seem to have been training a lot' Aizen said. 'You should have a good understanding of your abilities now. I think it would be a good time to give you the chance you requested. I would like you to locate a group of arrancar that left my army. They do not seem to like serving a shinigami. Find them and kill them. It should be a good test for you.'

'I won't disappoint you Aizen.' Rukia left to search around the desert. It wasn't long before she found them. All of them being together made it much easier to locate their reiatsu. There was only a group of about fifteen of them.

Some of them looked around. 'Someone's coming' one of them said.

'Who is it?' another one asked.

'It's not one of us. They must have come from the fortress.' They all began talking amongst themselves. One of them stepped forwards. It was most likely the leader.

'Who are you?' the leader asked. 'Were you sent by Aizen?'

'You could say something like that' Rukia replied mischievously.

'If you are with him then you shall die here!' He signalled for a group of them to attack. Four of them rushed towards her with their swords. Rukia sighed. She drew her sword and swiftly struck them all.

'Damn. She's strong' the leader growled. A few more of them rushed at her only to be cut down. All that remained was the leader and four others.

'What do we do?' one of the asked.

'It's simple. Distract her.' The leader unsheathed his sword and reached for something in his pocket.

'I'm getting tired of this' Rukia yawned.

'Heh. You won't beat me and my elite guards so easily. I was once an espada' the leader laughed. 'What chance do you have against an espada and four others?!' Rukia looked unimpressed. The leader's guards all attacked at the same time. Rukia was easily blocking their attacks. The leader stepped forward.

'Now!' he bellowed. As he spoke the guards all jumped away. The leader used sonido and appeared right in front of her. He put his hand near her hollow hole and let go of the small object in it. He smirked. 'Caja negación' he said. 'Farewell.' Rukia was suddenly bound by the cube-like device and then disappeared into a strange dimension. The leader smiled. 'Let us move from here. Aizen knows we are here now.' They all began to walk away. All of a sudden they heard a cracking noise. They turned around and saw large cracks appearing from nowhere. A hand covered in claw-like armour burst through it.

'I-Impossible!' The arrancar all stared at what was happening. Everything then cracked as the figure of Rukia walked out. There were large wings on her back and she held what looked like a scythe in her right hand. They couldn't see much else.

'Maybe you aren't as weak as I first thought' Rukia said calmly. 'I didn't intend on using my Resurrección here.' The guards began to run away but the leader stayed where he was. She used sonido and appeared in front of the guards. All they saw was the flash of her weapon as it slashed across them.

Rukia resealed her Resurrección form back into her sword. The leader stood some distance away. He still hadn't moved.

'Oh? I see you haven't tried to run.' Rukia turned and faced him.

'I would like to fight you one on one. Show me the power that Aizen is capable of creating now' he said.

'I wasn't a hollow before becoming like this' Rukia told him. The leader looked confused. 'I was a shinigami.'

'A shinigami?' he asked. 'I see. Allow me to tell you my name before we begin. I am the former septima espada, Berial Jitaya.

Rukia smiled. 'Kuchiki Rukia.' They both then rushed towards each other. They met in the middle with their swords clashing. Rukia smirked. 'It looks like you can fight without all of your subordinates.'

'Heh. Why do you think I was an espada before?' he replied. He backed off as they pushed each other away. Jitaya then used sonido. Rukia kept her stance. She expected him to come from behind. Jitaya suddenly appeared in front of her and attempted a stab that was going for her upper body. Rukia was surprised to see him appear in front but she quickly jumped back before the attack could hit.

'_Shit_' she cursed to herself. She was breathing heavily. '_I overdid it with my Resurrección. I used too much reiatsu. It doesn't matter though. I'll end it now'_ She smiled again. She held up her hand and charged a cero. It headed straight for him. He held up his sword to block it. He managed to block most of the damage but it still injured him. He saw Rukia appear right in front of him as she landed a quick hit on him. He fell to the floor. Rukia had her sword pointed at him.

'Looks like the arrancar have gotten much stronger since I was there. I lost so you may kill me' he said.

'Aizen instructed me to kill you. I plan to follow his orders' Rukia said coldly. She stabbed him in the neck. He stayed where he was for a moment and fell down onto the sand. Rukia picked up his sword as proof of his death.

'Excellent.' Aizen smiled. Rukia showed him the sword. 'You have indeed proved your loyalty.'

'You gave me the power I wanted' Rukia told him. 'That's why I will do whatever you say. I will kill him when he gets here when you give me the order.'

'I'm glad to hear that. As proof of your task, you will receive your rank among the espada.' Rukia looked slightly confused as to how Aizen planned to do so. He held out the Hōgyoku. She felt a sharp pain in lower part of her right leg which caused her to fall to her knees. After the pain subsided, she pulled back part of her hakama to inspect what had happened. She looked at her leg which now had a number on it.

* * *

Rukia is part of the espada and she's completely loyal to Aizen! I'm not revealing what number she is yet and I'm also not properly revealing her Resurrección.

As for Berial's name, I was playing Persona 4 at one point and decided to combine two names of the persona in it to make a name (I really couldn't think of anything else). So I combined Belial and Jatayu and changed them a little. I dont own Persona 4. I own the game but I didnt create it.

I think the next chapter probably will focus on Ichigo and friends as I think the previous chapter and this one probably cover about 2 weeks.

Anyway, review or I will be sad. ;_;


	11. The rescue begins!

I still dont own Bleach or the characters.

Parts of this chapter weren't all that appealing to me. I think that's probably because not as much happens in this one. Oh well, enjoy it anyway!

Everything is back to normal time now. The past two chapters went over two weeks. Now everything is happening at the same time unless I say otherwise.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**The rescue begins!**

'Hang on Rukia, Inoue, we're here now.' Ichigo, Ishida and Chad ran for what seemed like forever across the desert sands. Everything looked the same so they couldn't tell where they were going until they could see the Las Noches fortress in the distance. On their travels so far they had met Nel, a small child arrancar, and her two companions, Pesche and Dondochakka. Dondochakka was mostly yellow with spots over his body. He had a large mask that looked like a sort of witch-doctor mask. Pesche was tall and thin with a beetle-like mask.

They had also met Renji who had somehow brought Hanatarō with him, probably because he would be able to heal them. Renji explained that when Byakuya and Kenpachi took them back, Byakuya said his only instruction was to bring them back. He was given no instructions as to what he should do when he brought them back.

The group carried on walking to the fortress. Occasionally, Nel and her companions would usually find something to complain about.

'Why we goin' to the fortress?' Nel asked.

'My feet hurt, don'tcha know' Dondachakka complained.

'I really think it's a bad idea to go there' Pesche said nervously.

'Will you all just shut up!' Renji yelled at them all as he couldn't take any more of their whining. 'Can't you just go back to wherever you came from instead of following us?!'

'A-Abarai-san' Hanatarō said meekly 'You don't have to yell at them. They came with us because they wanted to.'

Renji sighed. 'They better not keep complaining or I'll kick their asses.'

Dondochakka began to sob uncontrollably. 'We're sorry, don'tcha know!'

'You made Dondochakka cry' Pesche said.

'Don't worry Dondochakka. Itsygo would protect us if he was going to do that.' Nel comforted him.

'Renji you idiot' Ichigo scolded. 'Look what you did. Now they've started again.'

'It ain't my fault!' Renji argued.

After everyone calmed down, they began moving again. They were slowly getting closer and closer to the fortress. No hollows or arrancar had attacked them yet which confused and worried them slightly. Surely Aizen knew they were here so why didn't he send his espada to kill them all right away?

* * *

_A few hours ago, inside the fortress_

The members of the espada all walked into a room with a large table in it with eleven chairs around it.

'I heard we were under attack' Yammy said. He smiled. 'We should just kill 'em all now.'

'It's been a while since I had a good fight' Nnoitra grinned.

'They should all have some interesting abilities' Szayel Apporo said. 'I can't wait to see them with my own eyes.'

They all sat down around the table. Rukia sat down with her arms folded and had her hands resting on opposite arms.

'I don't see why Aizen let that damn shinigami join our ranks' Barragan said gruffly. Rukia looked over at him.

'I have proved my loyalty to Aizen' she replied calmly. 'I don't see why you should have a problem with that. I am no longer a shinigami.'

'Humph' he grumbled to himself. 'When you talk to me you should at least show me some respect, shingami.' Rukia smirked a little.

'That's enough, Barragan.' Aizen, along with Ichimaru and Tōsen walked into view. Aizen sat down at the head of the table. Ichimaru and Tōsen stood either side of him.

'My dear espada' Aizen began. 'I believe you already know, but we are under attack.'

'Where are they then? Shouldn't we just kill them all now?' Yammy asked.

'Patience Yammy' Aizen said calmly. 'Before we begin, I would like to offer you all some tea.' (**A/N: **There must be something evil inside the tea or something like that)

_A few cups of tea later_

'Has everyone finished? Good. Now we can begin. Tōsen.'

Tōsen pulled a lever which caused a hologram to appear in the centre of the table. It showed Ichigo, Chad and Ishida running towards the fortress. Grimmjow saw Ichigo and suddenly paid closer attention.

'That's all of them? I expected an army to be attacking but instead there's three kids' Barragan grumbled.

'Just three of 'em? That ain't enough to go 'round' Yammy complained.

'They are not to be taken lightly' Aizen assured them. 'They are Yasutora Sado, Ishida Uryū and Kurosaki Ichigo. These three and one other infiltrated the Soul Society and fought on par with the Gotei 13.'

'Four?' Zommari questioned. 'Where is the other?'

Aizen smiled. 'Inoue Orihime. She is in our possession now. They have most likely come to get her back.' Rukia scowled and dug her nails into her arms slightly after hearing his comment.

'What's the matter? Jealous?' Nnoitra smirked as he noticed her reaction. Rukia didn't respond. Grimmjow stood up and was about to leave.

'Where are you going, Grimmjow?' Aizen asked.

'I'm killin 'em now. Just getting' it over and done with' he said.

'Aizen-sama has given no such instruction, Grimmjow' Tōsen said.

'I'm doin' this for Aizen so quit yer bitching' he replied.

'Sit down, Grimmjow.' Aizen said calmly. Grimmjow said nothing. 'Well? I didn't hear your answer, Grimmjow Jagerjaquez.' Aizen focused his gaze on Grimmjow who suddenly collapsed onto the floor breathing heavily due to Aizen's immense reiatsu. Aizen looked away from him. Grimmjow stood up slowly and gritted his teeth.

'You all have nothing to fear. As long as you stay near me you will all be invincible.' Aizen smiled. 'Stay in your quarters until I say otherwise. You are all dismissed.' Ichimaru, Tōsen and the espada stood up and walked out of the room.

* * *

Orihime heard the door open. She expected it to be Ulquiorra or Aizen. 'What do you want from me?' she asked without facing the door.

'That's not exactly the ideal thing to say to me, is it?' Rukia walked in.

'Kuchiki-san?' She recognized her voice instantly. She turned around to face her and was shocked to see how Rukia looked now. 'Kuchiki-san, what- what happened to you? What is that arm?'

'I would think it was obvious as to what happened to me.' Rukia stated calmly. 'I'd prefer it if you didn't call me that anymore.'

'Kuchiki-san, why?' Orihime was hoping that Rukia would say that she didn't choose to become like this.

'I believe I told you to not call me that.' Rukia gave her a cold stare. 'I was trapped here for a month. I lost the majority of my arm and couldn't see anything with my right eye. I had to choose between this and death.'

'_So that's it.' _Orihime thought. _'She didn't want to do it. She just didn't want to die.'_ She was beginning to understand why Rukia had chosen to do this to herself but something didn't seem right. Why did she not want to be called Kuchiki-san anymore? It was what Orihime had always called her. Something also seemed different about her. She didn't seem the same as the Rukia she had come to know. 'Rukia, you're different from before.' She didn't want to see what Rukia would do if she called her Kuchiki-san again.

'I'm not the Rukia you knew' she said. Orihime looked confused. 'I've changed. Aizen gave me the power I had always wanted. I only serve him now.'

'Aizen?! But that means- Rukia you… betrayed us?' Orihime couldn't believe what she was hearing. One of her best friends had betrayed everyone. 'Rukia, don't you see what you're doing? What about Ichigo and the others?' Rukia clenched her fist after hearing Ichigo's name.

'That is exactly why I'm doing this. No one attempted to save me. Everyone gave up on me. Why is it that they came to save you and not me?!' Rukia's rage took over her. She grabbed a part of Orihime's collar and stared into her eyes angrily. 'Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you now.'

'Rukia, we tried to rescue you! We wouldn't just leave you here' she said.

Rukia's eyes were suddenly wide open. She remembered something from some time ago.

'_You're saying we should just leave Kuchiki-san there? No, we're going to rescue her!'_

She remembered what Orihime had said to Yamamoto on the video she was shown when she had only just woken up in Hueco Mundo. Rukia didn't move. She then looked like she had just realized that she had threatened to kill Orihime. She let go of her collar and turned around.

'I'm sorry, Inoue' she said quietly as she walked out. Orihime wanted to save her while the others seemed too busy to care. She felt that Orihime was the only one who hadn't betrayed her.

'Kuchiki-san' she whispered as Rukia left.

Rukia walked down the corridors by herself. She saw Grimmjow up ahead walking the other way. As they walked past each other, Grimmjow stopped.

'Just 'cause you got somethin' against Kurosaki, it don't mean that you get to take him first.' Rukia stopped and smirked.

'I'll take him on when I feel like it' she laughed to herself. 'It would be easier for me to wait for you to lose to him before I step in.'

'Did you forget how easily I kicked his and your ass before, ya stupid bitch?' He was clearly irritated with her taunting him. He quickly unsheathed his sword and slashed across at her. Rukia held up her left arm. The sword hit it but did no damage whatsoever. Rukia inspected her arm.

'Much stronger than it was before, isn't it?' Rukia looked back at him and punched him in the stomach, causing Grimmjow to double over. Rukia looked down at him and smirked. 'I'm not nearly as weak as I was before. Don't forget that anytime soon.' Grimmjow muttered several profanities before recovering and walking away. Rukia watched him do so before walking away herself.

'I will be the one to kill you, Ichigo. I will do everything in my power to make sure of that.'

* * *

I want this story to have more reviews! If you are reading this, press the review button then write something. Thanks to all the people who regularly review!


	12. Mystery

I still don't own Bleach or it's characters.

It's been a while since I updated. I finished this chapter and was going to upload it but I was feeling really sick over the weekend and that wasn't particularly fun. So enjoy and REVIEW WHEN YOU'RE FINISHED!!!!

**

* * *

Chapter 12**

**Mystery**

'How much further is it?' Ichigo said wearily.

'It's just up ahead. You can see it's not far away now' Ishida told him.

'It's about damn time!' Renji yelled. 'We've been running with these idiots for hours!' Nel, Pesche and Dondochakka were resting for what seemed like the hundredth time.

'We're just resting our feet, don'tcha know!' Dondochakka called out.

'Are you sure we should go with them into the fortress?' Pesche whispered to Dondochakka. 'I have a bad feeling about taking Nel there.'

'Nel wanted to go with them' he whispered back. 'We still gotta protect her, don'tcha know.' The three of them stood up and trudged slowly over to the rest of the group.

'I knew I shouldn't have gone with Abarai-fukutaichō.' Hanatarō was barely keeping up with the others. 'I should have known he'd do something dangerous. Waaaahhh!' he yelled out as he tripped over. 'Huh?' He noticed he tripped over something this time. 'What's that?' He reached over to pick the thing up.

'Hanatarō's falling behind again' Ishida told the group.

'He better not have fallen over again.' Renji turned around to see where he was. He saw him running towards them with something in his hands. 'Hey, he's got something.' The rest of the group turned around to see what it was.

'Ichigo!' he called out. 'I tripped over this.'

'What is it?' Ichigo asked. Hanatarō finally reached them, gasping for breath.

'It's a zanpakutō' he said as he showed it to them.

'Is it a shinigami's?' Chad asked.

'It looks like it' Ishida said.

Ichigo took it in his hands and looked at it. He examined the blade, the guard and the handle closely to see if he knew who the owner was. He suddenly looked at it in shock.

'Oi, Renji. Do you know whose zanpakutō this is?' Ichigo showed it to Renji. He then made a similar reaction to Ichigo.

'Th-That's… Rukia's.' The rest of them were shocked to hear this. 'Why is it out here?' he questioned.

'Aizen probably didn't want her to get it back' Ishida pushed up his glasses. 'If she didn't have her zanpakutō, she wouldn't be able to defend herself as well. It was probably to make sure she wouldn't escape.'

Ichigo stared at the sword still. At that point, the spirit of Zangetsu appeared beside him.

'There is something strange about this sword' he said.

'What do you mean?' Ichigo asked him. 'It doesn't seem any different to any other zanpakutō.'

'For some reason, I feel that you are able to enter the wielder's spirit world' Zangetsu said. 'It is not possible to enter another shinigami's spirit world normally. A shinigami's spirit world is part of their soul. A part of this person's soul in inside this sword.'

'How is that possible?' Ichigo didn't know what this meant for Rukia. Zangetsu said nothing and then faded away. 'Renji, Zangetsu told me that we can enter Rukia's spirit world.'

'Huh? How can that be right?' Renji was just as confused as Ichigo was. Ichigo shrugged. 'Well if your zanpakutō said it, it must be true. Shall we give it a try?'

'Yeah' Ichigo nodded. 'You guys, take care of any hollows that come and attack us.' Ishida and Chad nodded. Both Ichigo and Renji held the sword, closed their eyes and focused on it. They opened their eyes again and looked around. There were trees everywhere and snow was falling from the silvery sky.

'How did you get here?' a female voice asked. There was a hint of anger in her voice. It wasn't Rukia's voice so they both turned around to see the speaker. It was a woman wearing a white kimono with white hair, Sode no Shirayuki. She held Rukia's shikai sword and was pointing it at them.

'Whoa, hang on a minute' Ichigo and Renji held up their hands to show they meant no harm. 'You've got it all wrong. We aren't trying to do anything bad' Ichigo said nervously.

'Who are you?' Sode no Shirayuki asked. She kept her sword pointed at them.

'Uh, we kinda know the person who owns this sword, so please don't kill us' Renji said.

'You know Rukia?' She lowered the sword.

'Yeah we do' Ichigo said. 'We found the sword outside and we were hoping you could fill us in on some things.'

'I'm sorry but I can't remember many things that have happened to Rukia recently' she looked down a little. 'She hasn't been in contact with me for some time. Because of this, I no longer share her feelings or memories.'

'Do you know where Rukia is?' Ichigo asked.

'Yes and no' she replied.

'What does that mean?' Renji was confused.

Sode no Shirayuki stepped aside and revealed Rukia sitting against a tree. She was staring at the floor with lifeless eyes. 'I don't know where she is outside of here.'

'Rukia!' Ichigo shouted. He was glad to see her but he was concerned as to why she was inside her own spirit world while her body was nowhere to be seen on the outside world. Renji approached her, knelt down and tilted her head up so he was looking into her eyes. She was looking right at him but at the same time, she was staring straight through him.

'Rukia, snap out of it!' he yelled as he grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her. Her head rolled around as he did so. Renji stood up and shook his head. 'I don't know what's up with her. Do you know anything?' he asked Sode no Shirayuki.

'I don't remember how she got here or why she is like this. I knew at one point but I can't remember anymore.' Sode no Shirayuki looked disappointed. Renji began to walk away from where Rukia was but he felt something tugging at his hakama slightly. He looked down and saw that Rukia was weakly holding his hakama.

'Ren… ji' she said weakly. She repeated his name a few times. Renji knelt down in front of her again. She had somehow sensed his reiatsu. Ichigo walked over to her too and grabbed her hand.

'Rukia, what's wrong?' he asked. Rukia looked up slightly.

'I…Ichi…Ichigo.' She spoke slowly. 'Ichi…go' she said again. Ichigo looked down at her as she spoke. 'Ichigo, please… kill me… please.' It sounded like she was begging for him to do so. Tears were forming in her eyes. Ichigo was shocked to hear what she just said. 'Please' she said again as the tears rolled down her face.

'Something isn't right.' Ichigo turned to Renji.

'Wow, how'd you figure that out' he said sarcastically. 'Of course something ain't right! Why else would she be here and asking you to kill her?'

Ichigo stood up. 'What's the last thing you remember?' he asked Sode no Shirayuki.

'The last thing I remember is that she left her zanpakutō in the desert' she said.

'Rukia did that?' Ichigo and Renji were very confused. 'Why would she leave behind her own zanpakutō?'

'Something definitely isn't right.' Renji said. 'Well, thanks for your help' he said to Sode no Shirayuki. He turned to Ichigo. 'We better get going. We gotta find where Rukia is.' Ichigo nodded as they left.

When they were back outside, they saw that everyone was pretty much in the same place as when they went in.

'Did you find anything about Rukia?' Chad asked. Ichigo and Renji told the rest of the group what they had found out inside Rukia's inner world.

Ishida pushed up his glasses. 'Kuchiki-san wanted you to kill her. I can only assume that she is being tortured but if that is the case, she would only have asked for you to help her. I don't know what is going on but Aizen clearly has something planned for her.'

'I'm gonna take this with us' Ichigo said as he took Sode no Shirayuki. 'Let's get going so we can figure this out.' Everyone nodded. They smashed a wall in the side of the fortress and found themselves in a corridor. They ran down several of the corridors until they reached a room that had 4 doorways leading to different places.

'We don't have the time to all go down each one. Let's split up' Renji suggested. Everyone agreed as they sorted out who would go through each door. Ichigo, Ishida and Renji all went down corridors by themselves. Chad was accompanied by Hanatarō because he thought that Chad looked strong enough to protect him and he didn't want to get in Ichigo's way. They left Nel, Dondochakka and Pesche behind but the three of them ended up following one of them. Nel followed Ichigo, Dondochakka followed Renji and Pesche followed Ishida. Dondochakka and Pesche forgot which one Nel ran through so they took a guess as to which one she ran down.

(**A/N: **I'm going to skip forward again. The fights with the Privaron Espada still happened but I'm not going to mention them in this story. Chad fights and defeats Aaraneiro but I'm not going to explain that either. After he defeats him, he gets beaten by Nnoitra just like he does in the anime. Hanatarō runs off somewhere. He might come back at some point, I'm not sure.)

_The story resumes as Ichigo has defeated the Privaron Espada he faced. _

Ichigo continued running after defeating Dordonii Alessandro Del Socacchio. He was still in his bankai form. He didn't kill him but Dordonii convinced Ichigo to run away as he sensed the Exequias approaching. Ichigo was still being followed by Nel who continuously slowed him down so he carried her under his arm instead. As he ran down the corridors, he heard a voice.

'…Ichigo…' the voice said. Ichigo recognized it as being Rukia's voice. He ran even faster after hearing it. He then heard giggling in the distance. Ichigo was concerned as to what was happening. This person was most likely hurting Rukia. As he got closer to the voice, the giggling got louder and he felt a large amount of reiatsu around him.

'Hang in there, Rukia. I'm almost there' he said to himself. He eventually reached a very large room where the giggling and the reiatsu had come from. There was a large set of stairs at the other end of the room. There was someone sitting at the bottom of them. The person's hair covered most of their facial features but Ichigo could see an evil grin on their face. The person was definitely an arrancar. He could tell because of the uniform. 'Where's Rukia?!' he demanded. 'What have you done with her?'

The person chuckled. 'I've done nothing with her' the person said. It was a female voice. She began to stand up. 'You know who I am, right?'

Ichigo looked at her briefly, taking in her words. His eyes suddenly began to widen. The arrancar brushed the hair away from her face but left a very long bang in the middle where it was. It remained in the middle of her face. Ichigo continued to stare at her in shock. 'Rukia? No. It can't be.'

'It's been a while hasn't it, Ichigo' Rukia smiled at him the way she usually did before it changed to an evil smirk.

* * *

Get reviewing readers! This story deserves so many more than it has!

On a side note, I had an idea for a new story that I probably won't publish until I get some more ideas. It will be mostly about Rukia, yay! (Not really a surprise though). I was thinking of writing it after I finished this story but I thought that it would be a long time before that happens. I'll mention it sometime in the future when I update this story (I haven't actually thought of a title yet so I'm going to need to think of that which will probably take ages).


	13. Fallen Shinigami

I'VE SEEN BLEACH FADE TO BLACK (SUBBED) AND IT'S SOOOOO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kenpachi went absolutely insane! It was mostly about everyone's favourite female lead character so I was veeeeeerrrrrrry happy (if anyone thinks I'm talking about Orihime, go die a horrible death). I got loads of Rukia screenshots so once again I was happy. My favourite part was the Dark Rukia part until the end. Firstly because it involved lots of Rukia and secondly because all the captains fighting that huge thing was brilliant. Every captain did something good in this movie!

Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**Fallen Shinigami**

Rukia stood before him. A mask with two curved protrusions coming out from the top rested around most of her right eye. Ichigo noticed her left arm was a hollow's arm. It was definitely Rukia's body but he was certain that it wasn't the true Rukia in control of the body. She looked slightly different but she was still recognizable. Her reiatsu didn't feel like what it usually was like either. It was all the reiatsu from a hollow. Ichigo thought he could feel a very small amount of Rukia's true reiatsu, but it was very faint.

'No, you can't be Rukia. She would rather die than become an arrancar.' Ichigo was confident that this wasn't the real Rukia.

'I thought I would do that too' Rukia replied. 'But I assure you that I am Rukia.' She knew that he would deny the fact that she was still herself. She walked towards where he was standing and stopped a fair distance away from him. Ichigo noticed her left eye colour which had a hint of green in the usual shade of violet.

'Rukia, snap out of it!' he yelled. He was sure that a hollow or something like that was controlling her. Rukia sighed. She brought her hand up to her face and moved the bang that was covering her left eye. Her hidden eye was its normal colour. Rukia was not being controlled by anything

'There is nothing for me to snap out of' she said calmly. 'I am in control of my body and I always have been.'

'Whoever you are, you're just using Rukia's body. How did you lock her inside her own zanpakutō? I know that Rukia would never become an arrancar, so what did you do to her? ' Ichigo pointed at her, expecting an immediate answer.

'It is fairly simple' Rukia replied. 'I locked away a part of myself inside my own zanpakutō. The power I gained was worth giving everything else away.'

'Rukia wouldn't do that either!' Ichigo snapped.

Rukia smirked. 'It doesn't matter if you think it's me or not. All that matters right now are my orders.' Rukia unsheathed her sword and rushed towards him. Ichigo barely had enough time to block it with his own zanpakutō. He pushed her back but it took a lot of effort to do so. He placed Nel on the ground and told her to get back. 'After all this time we never fought each other. Now would be a good time to do so, don't you think?'

'_Damn it' _Ichigo thought. _'This can't be Rukia but I can't fight her. It's still her body so I might be able to get her back to normal.' _He wondered if there was anything left of Rukia inside of what was attacking him. She would never attack him under normal circumstances. Rukia continued with her relentless attacks. Ichigo felt that he could do nothing but block them and try to talk some sense into her. _'Her attacks are incredibly strong, I can't block them forever.'_

'What's wrong Ichigo?' she asked. 'You were much stronger than this when I last saw you.' Rukia smiled as Ichigo wasn't even trying to attack her. She attacked him harder to force him to retaliate. 'Your powers came from me right? So I know what I should expect from you.'

'I don't want to fight you' Ichigo replied.

'Why? Even when we're against each other, do you think I'm still so weak that I need to be protected all the time?!' she snapped. 'You didn't understand what it was like for me. Everyone else got much stronger with every passing day. I never did. I could only advance through weeks of training. Everyone seemed to think I was made of glass. If I took one hit, I would die instantly. I was sick of everyone protecting me. No one gave me a chance to prove myself. I wanted power and now I finally have it.'

'Shit. Rukia! This isn't you!' he said, trying to reach her.

'I told you that I am Rukia.' Rukia sounded more serious when she spoke this time. 'I'm going to kill you Ichigo. I will show you the power I gained.'

Ichigo still continued to block her attacks. She was getting closer to hitting him every time though as she knew where he was going to block. She finally managed to land a hit on him although it was only a glancing slash on his arm.

'Enough!' Ichigo yelled at her after pushing her back again. Rukia stood back and simply watched him to see what he had to say. 'If I can't talk any sense into you, I have no reason to be here.' Ichigo turned away from her and headed for the stairs that led outside.

'Ichigo' Rukia said softly. Ichigo stopped. That was definitely Rukia. It was the way she normally spoke as opposed to the way she kept taunting him now. 'You came to save me didn't you? Why are you leaving me here?' she carried on in her softer voice. Ichigo faced her again. She looked sad as she looked at him. He thought that was still a small amount of the real Rukia left in her body. Her face then changed though as she laughed to herself. 'Don't make me do that again' she said in the deathly serious tone she spoke in before. It was all an act to stop him from leaving. She hated acting like her old self, it made her feel weak. 'At least admit that I am Rukia and I might offer you an explanation.'

'You have her body' Ichigo replied. 'You have nothing else that belongs to her.' Rukia scowled after his comment. She balled her hands into fists tightly. She held up her hand and fired a cero that was aiming straight at him.

'_Shit'_ Ichigo thought. 'Getsuga Tenshō!' He charged his own attack to stop the cero but it was then that he realised what he had actually done. The attack not only stopped the cero, it cut through it and headed towards Rukia. Rukia wasn't expecting him to counter attack as her eyes widened when the attack hit her. _'Shit! What have I done?'' _Ichigo thought. He had just attacked her. If he damaged her body severely, restoring the real Rukia would be meaningless as she would most likely be in a very bad state for the rest of her life.

The smoke caused from the attack cleared. Rukia was still standing but she had been pushed back a considerable distance. She didn't appear to be very badly wounded. There were a few marks on her arm and small tears in her hakama and jacket. She was breathing heavily. She looked at him again.

'So you will fight me' she said. She smiled. 'I was beginning to think I would have to kill you without a fight.'

'No, wait a minute' Ichigo began.

'I'm done waiting!' Rukia suddenly shouted. 'I was here for weeks waiting for you. I never once thought that you wouldn't come to save me. I was on the brink of death because of how stupid I was to ever have trusted you in the first place! You came for Inoue. I was left here to die. You've just shown that you no longer care for me. You refuse to acknowledge the fact that I'm standing right in front of you! You used an incredibly powerful attack hoping it would cause me serious injury when you could easily have dodged it.'

Ichigo said nothing after her outburst. He pieced together everything that she had said and what had happened and came to a conclusion. It was Rukia. Those were her feelings and memories. Ichigo understood everything now. Rukia chose to become an arrancar so she could live and so she could get an explanation as to why everyone had betrayed her. She didn't know that Aizen had prevented everyone from reaching her. The words that Rukia said from her spirit world echoed in his head.

'_Ichigo, please… kill me… please'_

The old Rukia knew what she had done to herself. She knew she wouldn't be able to find a way to reverse what she had done. She knew that her own anger and rage that she kept inside herself would kill the people she cared about. Death was what she felt she deserved.

'Rukia, I'm sorry' Ichigo said. 'I couldn't save you.'

'It's too late Ichigo' Rukia said quietly. 'I wanted to become stronger even if it meant I had to do this.' She sheathed her sword. Ichigo was surprised to see her do so. 'I won't hold back the next time I see you. You will survive until then.' She used sonido and disappeared. Ichigo was confused as to why she told him to survive. Surely she knew he could look after himself very well.

'I can still save you Rukia. I swear I'll return you to normal.'

'Kurosaki Ichigo' a voice said. Ichigo turned to see Ulquiorra, one of the first arrancar that he had seen. Rukia's words about surviving seemed to apply to a situation like this one.

* * *

And that's the time when Ichigo gets owned by Ulquiorra

The fight was a bit short because you can only write so much about only one person attacking. If I wrote loads of stuff for the fight, everyone would be getting bored.

Review please!


	14. Rematch

Bleach and characters = not mine. Story = mine.

I felt like replying to some reviews as I haven't done so before.

**Zangetsu50, Taeniaea (chapter 13) - **Thanks :)

**TheLaughin9Man (chapter 12) - **Don't do crack, it's not good for you. However, my story is good for you so keep reading.

**Javane (chapter 12) -** Yay! Glad you like her.

**nintendogirl50 (chapter 12) - **You use lots of capitals. Still, I'm happy you keep reviewing.

**Toushi (chapter 12) -** You're already insane. I hope you got some ideas for your stories.

**xwhitemoonx (chapter 13) - **It's awesome because I wrote it :D.

**Illidan the Half Demon (chapter 11) - **I haven't revealed her rank yet.

**khfan forlife (chapter 13) – **That was my favourite part too!!

Here's chapter 14. It took a while to write since this chapter is longer than the others.

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**Chapter 14**

**Rematch**

**A/N:** Maybe I should have thought more about when I set this story because I have to keep skipping huge bits that happen exactly the same way as they do in the anime. Anyway, this chapter takes place after Orihime gets kidnapped (again) by Starrk. Aizen hasn't left Hueco Mundo yet and the captains have finished their fights with the espada they each faced.

Ichigo ran through the desert, cutting down several hollows that tried to block his path. Orihime had only just been brought back and now she had been taken away again. Aizen was really beginning to piss him off now. When Ichigo reached the wall of the fortress, there were many arrancar standing there. One of them rushed forwards and attacked.

'Kurosaki Ichigo, I am Rudobōn, leader of the Exequias' he introduced himself. 'I am here to take your life.'

'Damn it! I don't have time for you!' He pushed him away. 'Move it!'

'I told you I will take your life. I will not let you pass here.' He signalled for all of his soldiers to attack while he rushed back towards Ichigo again. Wave after wave of them came after him.

'Hoero, Zabimaru!' A sword extended out of nowhere cutting down several of the Exequias before they could reach Ichigo.

'Renji!' Ichigo called.

'Heh. We won't go down that easily' he said as he took out another wave of them.

'El Directo!' A large wall where most of them stood began to crumble and fall. They didn't know what was happening and fell down with the wall.

'Chad!' Ichigo called to him.

'Ichigo, we'll handle these guys. You go on ahead' he said.

'Thanks Chad, Renji. Ichigo thanked them as Rudobōn and the remaining soldiers focused on Renji and Chad. Ichigo knocked down another wall and went into the fortress. It looked like Aizen's throne room. Orihime was standing next to the throne.

'Kurosaki-kun!' she called. She ran down the large set of stairs to where he was.

'I'm glad you're safe Inoue' he said. It seemed strange that no one was there to guard her but soon after, they both heard footsteps nearby. Someone was coming closer. They heard the person laughing a little.

'I don't recall seeing you act like this during our little reunion, Ichigo' the person said. Ichigo didn't know how to feel at this point.

'Rukia' he said quietly.

'Well at least you know it's me this time.' Rukia seemed slightly more cheerful now, but that probably wasn't a good sign. She didn't feel any different to how she felt when they met some time ago.

'_She won't listen to me unless I fight her' _Ichigo thought. _'I've got no choice.' _Inoue, get back' he told Orihime. 'Protect yourself.'

'You're going to fight me this time?' Rukia asked. 'I wouldn't have it any other way.'

'Kurosaki-kun, you're not going to fight her, are you?' Orihime asked.

'I have to' Ichigo replied. 'It's the only way to get through to her.'

'Get through to me?' Rukia asked out of curiosity. 'What do you mean by that?'

'I'll turn you back to normal.' Ichigo was determined to do so. 'The part of yourself that you left behind would want me to do that too.'

'Interesting' Rukia smiled. 'Let's see how you hope to accomplish that.' She placed her hand over the handle of her zanpakutō

'Kuchiki-san… why?' Orihime asked sadly.

'She isn't the Rukia we know' Ichigo told her. 'She became controlled by the darkness of her heart. She isn't afraid to kill us.'

'The only thing I want to do is kill you, Ichigo. I have no intention of killing Inoue' Rukia said. 'You will never know the pain I felt while I was here. I chose to do this to myself because I was worthless as a shinigami. My power as an arrancar was greater than I ever wanted. My existence means something to me now. That is why I want to do this. Aizen gave me these powers and I don't want to disappoint him.'

'You know that isn't true, Rukia. You were already strong. Your existence meant something to everyone. I owe everything to you' Ichigo told her.

'Stop it.' Rukia shook her head. 'I meant what I said.'

'I didn't know you felt that way. Why didn't you tell anyone? We could have helped you Rukia.' Ichigo tried reasoning with her.

'It's too late to help me. I don't want to go back to the way I used to be.' Rukia looked away.

'That's only what part of you wants. You are everything that Rukia didn't want inside herself' Ichigo said. 'Because of what you did to her, she wants to die.'

'This is my body, so what one part of me wants doesn't mean anything' she replied. She drew her sword. 'Let's get this over with.'

'Yeah, I need to bring you back to your senses.' He held his zanpakutō out in front of him Bankai!' he exclaimed. Black reiatsu surrounded him briefly as he entered his bankai form. 'Tensa Zangetsu.'

'You are taking this seriously after all.' Rukia seemed surprised.

'Aren't you going to do so as well?' Ichigo asked. He was expecting her to release her zanpakutō too.

'I don't feel the need to use the full extent of my powers yet, but that doesn't mean that I'm not serious about this' she replied. Orihime stepped back and formed her shield ability as she could tell how serious they were from their reiatsu. They both then pushed off from where they were standing and rushed at blinding speeds towards each other. Their swords clashed as an intense wave of reiatsu went almost everywhere. Rukia jumped backwards which caused Ichigo to stumble forwards as he didn't expect her to do so. She rushed straight back towards him to catch him off guard. Ichigo brought Zangetsu up just in time to block.

'You don't seem like the kind of person to use those kinds of tactics' Ichigo said as he jumped back.

'Forget everything you thought you knew about me. I'm not the person you once knew' Rukia said coldly as she stopped to re-enter her stance. The pause was only short though as she used sonido and appeared in front of Ichigo and forced him on to the defensive. Her attacks were coming hard and fast at him. The speed of his bankai allowed him to block most of them with his sword but her attacks were getting unpredictable so he was forced to shunpō out of the way. He was above her now. He looked down at her and she looked up at him. She looked at him to see if he really would attack. He scowled slightly but he knew what he needed to do.

'Getsuga Tenshō!' he yelled. Black reiatsu with a red outline surrounded the blade. He swung his sword across and unleashed all the reiatsu in a large wave. Rukia smiled as she watched the attack coming closer.

'_He isn't afraid after all' _she thought. She held up her hand to use a cero. She remembered what happened last time. She was only toying with him back then as the cero was fairly weak; about the level of a Gillian class menos. This one was fully powered. As she released it, she watched as it collided with the Getsuga Tenshō. It slowed down a little as it broke through her cero like before. Rukia raised her left arm and brought her right arm up to support it. When it reached her arm, she moved her back leg backwards for extra support as she held the attack back. Since it was so wide, most of it hit the ground around her but what was left of it still had considerable strength. She hadn't expected such a large attack. As more of it was pushing down on her, her supporting leg began to slide backwards slightly. Her head lowered as the last of the attack had been nullified.

Ichigo couldn't see what was happening. He didn't know what had happened but it felt as if it had only taken a few seconds. As it cleared, he saw Rukia with her left arm still held up. She was breathing heavily. Ichigo noticed that she hadn't been hit by it but she obviously had a hard time holding it back.

'You alright?' Ichigo asked.

'Why do you care if I'm 'alright'?' she said bluntly. _'What am I doing?' _she thought. _'I'm underestimating him too much.'_

'You're still my friend even if you aren't the same' he replied.

'Shut up!' she snapped. 'I don't want your comfort or your concern, none of it matters to me anymore. I told you that I want to kill you, so why can't you let everything you felt towards me die?!'

'I can't do that' he said. 'If I did, I wouldn't have bothered with being a shinigami. You were the one who changed my life forever. I can't let everything I know about you die.'

'You left me here to die. That was enough for me to lose all respect for you. Surely when you weren't going to come here to help me, you knew I wasn't worth the effort' she said darkly.

'Rukia, you know that I wouldn't have just left you here. We couldn't get to you. That's why we didn't come' Ichigo told her.

'All you needed to do was see Urahara and you could have been here straight away.' She looked away from him.

'We did. He could make a garganta in about a week but when he did, Aizen prevented us from entering it' he explained. 'Don't you see what that means? Aizen made you think we had given up on you.'

Rukia clenched her fist tightly in anger. 'I know that isn't true. I saw Aizen every day while I was here. I always kept him in sight.' She entered her stance again. 'That's enough talk! I swear I will kill you right now!'

She rushed towards him again. She attacked him with a vertical slice that was easily blocked. Ichigo slashed across to the side which was exactly what Rukia wanted him to do. She ducked under his attack, surprising him greatly, and jumped up in the air before bringing her sword downwards to kill him. Ichigo couldn't do anything with his sword as he was still slashing across. This attack would definitely kill him. Ichigo then quickly looked down and remembered something. Rukia smiled menacingly.

'This is the end, Kurosaki Ichigo!' she yelled as she brought her sword down towards his head. Something caused her to fall backwards. She looked over and saw a cut in her right shoulder. _'What? How did he-?' _She looked down at him. He was holding a sword in each hand. The one in the right was Zangetsu. The one in his left was in the air. That was the one he cut her with. Rukia's eyes widened as she noticed the sword. _'It can't be!' _she thought. 'Sode no… Shirayuki' she whispered. She saw everything fade away into a very bright light. She looked around but saw nothing. 'What is this? What did he do?' she said. When she looked forward again, she saw a single figure. It looked like her silhouette. When the person walked closer, she could see it was another Rukia. She was wearing her shinigami uniform, but she had no mask or hollow hole. 'Y- You are…' she began.

Ichigo looked surprised as he watched Rukia fall backwards, staring at the ceiling of the room. His expression then changed to shock when everything turned white in a flash. He closed his eyes to shield them from a light that appeared to be rushing towards him.

When he opened his eyes, he looked around and saw Hueco Mundo, outside the Las Noches fortress. The moon sat alone in the sky, watching over everything.

'_What… happened?'_ he thought. He looked around to see if Rukia was here too. He couldn't see her anywhere. While looking around, he noticed something in the distance. It was moving towards him. He stayed where he was with his hand on his zanpakutō, just in case this thing was an arrancar. It was getting closer to him. He could see this person was wearing black. He walked closer to the person who was still running. There were hollows closing in on the person. Ichigo ran over to try to help. However, before he got there all the hollows stopped and were covered in ice. He watched them as they shattered moments later. _'Ice?' _he thought. _'Could that be…?' _The person kept running for a while with Ichigo following but he kept out of sight.

'_Someone, please. Please help me.' _Ichigo heard a voice somewhere. Was it the person he was following? The person then stopped.

'Damn it… DAMN IT!!!!!!' the person shouted. 'Why- why am I so weak?!' The person fell to the ground.

'Hey!' Ichigo called. 'Are you alright?' He ran over to where the person was lying. Ichigo noticed that the person was a shinigami. 'Rukia' he said quietly. He noticed her left arm was missing. She was breathing heavily which meant that she had been running for some time. Ichigo walked around in front of her so she would notice him. He noticed that there were bandages covering her right eye. He tried to help her up but his hands went straight through her. _'Are these her memories?'_

'Ichigo… why? Why didn't you come?' she said. It made Ichigo feel incredibly sorry for her as he didn't know what she had been through while she was here. She let go of her sword as she tried to stand up. She couldn't keep herself up and fell down again. She tried to reach her sword again but she couldn't reach it. She rested her head against the sand. Her eyes showed tears forming.

'_I'm sorry, Shirayuki.' _The voice sounded again. Ichigo realized that these were Rukia's thoughts at the time. Her tears fell onto the sand. _'You don't need someone like me. I don't deserve such a powerful zanpakut_ō.'

'I remember this' a soft voice said. Ichigo looked to the side and saw Sode no Shirayuki. 'It was the last time she used my power as a shinigami.'

'How did I get here?' Ichigo asked her.

'I could tell you were fighting her so I contacted you' she explained. 'I attempted to restore the part of her soul inside the sword.. This was her last memory as a shinigami. Since the contact between her body and the sword was short, only a small part of her was able to be transferred. She is trying to return to her form from this time. She is fighting to regain control of her body. If she succeeds, she will only regain control for a short time.' Everything flashed white again as Ichigo returned to where he was fighting Rukia.

Everything looked as if nothing had happened although Rukia was standing away from him. She was holding her head in pain with her eyes shut tightly. She still had the cut on her shoulder but she wasn't paying attention to it. Her head seemed to be causing much more pain. She cried out in agony and fell to the floor.

'Kuchiki-san!' Orihime called. She began running over to her.

'Inoue, don't go any closer' Ichigo warned. He watched as Rukia writhed in pain, still holding her head and crying out.

'I-Ichigo' Rukia managed to say through the pain. 'Kill… me! Do it… now!'

'Rukia! Keep fighting it!' Ichigo yelled to her. Rukia slowly managed to rise up so she was on her knees. Ichigo walked a bit closer to her. Rukia struggled to open her eyes. She could just about see the figures of Ichigo and Orihime but she couldn't see them very well. Her vision was returning but the pain still hadn't stopped. As Ichigo walked closer to her, she looked up at him. He held his hand out to her. She began to move her hand away from her head to reach his, but she pulled it back and then used sonido to quickly move to somewhere else.

Ichigo looked disappointed that she had disappeared at the last second but he knew that she was trying her hardest to overcome the hollow part of herself._ 'Rukia, where ever you went, keep fighting it' _Ichigo said to himself. _'Your will is stronger than any hollow.'_

* * *

Wow, that was quite a long chapter. I should try to write longer chapters more often. I get to cram more things into it.

My review count is fairly low for the amount of chapters I do. I might refuse to write more if I don't get a satisfactory amount, but that would disappoint people so I won't do that. Anyway, the moral of my sad little tale is: more reviews! NOW!


	15. Return of Rukia

I told you I would make new chapters. Review count doesn't slow me down at all. It's just nice to get them sometimes.

You'll be happy to know that the next chapter is almost complete! 2 days from now is a good day so I want to upload something today, tomorrow and the day after. I'll tell you why I'm doing this on that day :).

Ugh, I've been updating my older chapters with new paragraphs etc. but when I update it, it doesn't show up on the story itself. It is actually very annoying because I notice a few mistakes every now and then, correct them and then when I look at the story, they're wrong again. I've done it so many times and it really frustrates me sometimes. Someone help me out a bit if that's possible. In exchange, I give you this chapter.

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**Chapter 15**

**Return of Rukia**

Rukia reappeared after using sonido to get away from where Ichigo was. Her head still felt like it was about to crack open. She was still holding her head with both hands in a futile effort to stop the pain. She didn't know what was causing her so much pain and she also didn't know why it wouldn't stop. The shinigami part of herself was beginning to regain control.

'Stop it' Rukia begged. She knew she wasn't talking to anyone but she couldn't stop herself from saying it. 'Please stop. I don't want this pain.' She remembered back to the time when she said she wanted to become an arrancar.

'_I don't want to have to endure this pain again' _was what she remembered saying. She thought that becoming an arrancar would make her strong enough to not feel any more pain. She wanted to know why she was feeling pain like the time when she was a shinigami. The pain in her head began to fade away. She stopped holding her head tightly as she slowly opened her eyes. Rukia felt relieved that her head had finally stopped hurting. She looked around only to realise that she had no idea where she was. She noticed her left arm and looked shocked. She moved it around to make sure it was her arm. Most of her memory between now and the time she became an arrancar was blurry. She didn't know exactly what it was that she had been doing for all this time.

'I… really did choose to do this to myself, didn't I' she said to herself. She examined the rest of her body, taking note of what was different. She unzipped her jacket so she could see all of her hollow hole. She brought her hand up to the hole as she brushed the edges of it with her fingers. When she looked over to the side, she saw her sword sitting next to her. As she picked it up, she remembered everything about it: the release command and her Resurrección. It made her look around again as she didn't know where Sode no Shirayuki was. She couldn't enter her inner world either. 'She probably doesn't want to see me again.' Rukia remembered how disappointed Sode no Shirayuki looked when she last remembered seeing her.

By using her sword as support, she managed to stand up. She wanted to fill in the gaps in her memory. The last thing she remembered was seeing Ichigo briefly although she couldn't remember what was said.

'Ichigo came here.' She wanted to find him so she could find out why he didn't come to help her. 'I can't go to see him' she thought. 'I can tell that I tried to kill him. He wouldn't want to see me after what I did. Should I see Aizen? He might still think that I'm helping him. He could probably tell me what I've been doing.' Rukia began to walk to where she thought Aizen would be.

* * *

Ichigo and Orihime were still standing in the same room after Rukia suddenly left. They didn't know where she went but they knew that if she came back, she wouldn't hesitate to kill both of them for what happened to her. Renji and Chad jumped through the hole that Ichigo made in the wall. Ishida was with them too.

'Ishida, where were you?' Ichigo asked.

'Me and Abarai-san were both in the same place' he explained. 'He wanted to be healed first so that's why I'm a little late.'

'Ichigo, you're in bankai, something happen?' Renji asked out of curiosity.

'Well, yeah' he said. 'It was… Rukia.'

'Rukia?!' Renji yelled. Everyone else looked shocked as well. 'What happened?'

'She's become an arrancar' Orihime told them.

'That must be why she wanted you to kill her when you saw her inside her inner world.' Ishida pushed his glasses up. 'She didn't want to hurt any of us.'

'She wasn't in control of her body' Ichigo told them. 'She was being controlled by the darkness of her heart.' He held up Sode no Shirayuki. 'I managed to cut her with this and I think a part of Rukia that we knew might have come back. She left a little while ago.'

'Why would she become an arrancar?' Chad asked.

'She was going to die if she didn't choose to become one' Ichigo said. He was piecing together what he had learnt from what Rukia had said. 'Aizen tricked her but she doesn't know that yet. That was why we couldn't rescue her. Aizen stopped us from getting here to make Rukia think that everyone had abandoned her. She was also in a lot of pain but Aizen wouldn't heal her.'

'I assume that she wanted to live in order to find out why we never came to help' Ishida said. Ichigo nodded.

'I'm going to get answers from Aizen and I'll kick his ass while I'm at it' Ichigo told them. 'We'll worry about finding Rukia later. You guys are coming, aren't you?' Orihime nodded.

'You know we are' Renji smiled.

'We wouldn't have come here if we weren't going to follow you now' Chad said.

'You won't get anywhere without my advice' Ishida smirked. Ichigo glared at him briefly before he turned to Orihime.

'Do you know where Aizen usually was?' he asked. Orihime nodded.

'I'll guide us there. I had to see him a lot while I was here.' They all turned to find Aizen with Orihime's guidance. Many arrancar were beginning to get in their way which meant that they must be getting closer to where Aizen was. They seemed fairly strong but the combination of all their powers made short work of them. They approached a large set of stairs. 'He was usually up there.' Orihime pointed to the top of the stairs. They could all feel a large amount of reiatsu nearby which meant that he was definitely in that room. As they began to walk towards the stairs, many arrancar swarmed in front of them.

'Is there any end to them?' Renji scowled.

'Kurosaki, you go on ahead' Ishida said as he summoned his bow. 'We'll guard Inoue and keep these ones busy.'

'Yeah, thanks guys' Ichigo said.

'Ichigo, remember to ask him about Rukia first' Chad warned him. 'You know about his power.'

'I know, Chad. Thanks' Ichigo smiled. Chad and Renji rushed forwards to take out most of the ones in front of the stairs. Ishida stayed back in front of Orihime and picked off many of them from afar. When Ichigo saw his chance he quickly sprinted towards the stairs. He ran up the stairs as fast as he could. 'I'm coming for you, Aizen' he said to himself. When he finally reached the top, he saw Aizen standing on an open balcony looking across the sands of the desert. There was no ceiling here, just a very large balcony.

'So, you finally arrived here, Kurosaki Ichigo' Aizen greeted him. 'I'm so glad we were able to meet again.'

'I want to ask you some things before I fight you.' Ichigo found it hard to resist attacking the man who had started everything. His calm tone made it even harder to do so.

'I don't see why not' Aizen smiled. 'You will die soon enough so you deserve to know the answers to your questions.'

'Tell me how to change Rukia back to normal' Ichigo demanded.

'That is impossible.' Aizen smirked. 'She became a hollow during her transformation. Hollows have no feelings in their hearts. Her shinigami form no longer exists.'

'That's not true' Ichigo said. 'The shinigami part of her is in here.' He held up Sode no Shirayuki.

'If all of your questions are about her, why don't you ask her right now?' Aizen looked over to the stairs. Rukia walked up so she was in view. She looked at Aizen and then at Ichigo. 'How long were you planning to stay there?' Rukia didn't answer his question.

'What did you do to me to make me choose this?' Rukia stared at Aizen darkly.

'I see that you have recovered a part of your old self.' Aizen smiled. 'It will be interesting to see how long you can hold on to it.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Ichigo asked Aizen. Rukia continued to stare at Aizen.

'My body no longer has anything to do with my shinigami self' Rukia said. 'The hollow part of me is more dominant because of this. I lost everything about myself when I became an arrancar. I only have control now because of Sode no Shirayuki's help so it won't be long until I lose control again.'

'That is correct' Aizen said. 'Now, would you mind telling me why you are here?'

'I told you already' she said to him. 'What did you do to me to make me want to become an arrancar?!'

'It won't matter if I tell you or not' Aizen said calmly. 'When your hollow comes back, you won't care what you did as a shinigami.'

'I don't care about what happens to me, I want to know.' Rukia sounded confident but she knew she wouldn't like what she would be told.

'I am sure you know this, but Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends planned to bring you back' Aizen explained. 'For my plan to succeed, you would need to stay here without anyone trying to help you so you would believe that everyone had left you behind. That is why I prevented Urahara Kisuke from opening a garganta. I gave you a choice between life and death. If you chose death, you would never have known why no one came to help you. That is all there is to it.'

Rukia looked down at the floor and clenched her fists. She knew she had made a huge mistake that day. Now, that feeling was coming back to her.

'You said you wouldn't heal my injuries' she said. 'Was that all just to make me want to escape the pain I felt by becoming an arrancar?'

'Correct.' Aizen smiled. 'However, there is one thing that you don't know about it.' Rukia looked up at him. 'I have to admit that you fought well. But I knew you wouldn't join me as you improved. That is when I thought that you would need more reason to join me. You had already felt pain on the inside when the Soul Society refused to rescue you. I thought that you should feel pain on the outside.' Rukia's eyes were wide open as she thought about how this would end up. 'You remember the hollow that attacked your arm don't you? You should also remember the two that caused you to lose your sight in your right eye and your left arm.' Rukia couldn't forget them. She was constantly reminded of them when she looked at her arm. 'The truth is that I created those hollows to perform those tasks before their death. That was their sole purpose.' Rukia gasped after what he had just said. She fell to her knees.

'That… That was you?' she said quietly on the verge of tears.

'Rukia.' Ichigo walked over to her.

'After that, your mind became easy to manipulate.' Aizen carried on. 'I knew it wouldn't be long until you eventually gave in. The time you attempted to escape was more than enough proof of that.'

'No…' Rukia fell forwards so she was still on her knees but was holding herself up with her arms. She stared straight down at the floor.

'You bastard!' Ichigo yelled. He began to reach for his zanpakutō. Aizen had already put him through enough and now he had only just found out that Rukia went through far worse than he did. He wanted to fight Aizen for Rukia right now as he thought she would be too traumatized to fight. As he grabbed Zangetsu's hilt, he suddenly froze as a great amount of reiatsu was released. Everyone at the bottom of the stairs also froze. They all looked towards the top of the stairs.

'Is that Aizen?' Chad said out loud.

'That reiatsu… it's insane!' Ishida said in shock.

'Why… does it feel so familiar?' Renji asked himself.

Back up at the top of the stairs, Ichigo turned to face Rukia. He looked down at her and saw that her fists were clenched so tightly that a small amount of blood trickled out from her right hand. She was shaking slightly. She slowly began to stand up but she was still looking down at the floor. Most of her hair that usually reached the bottom of her back was now hanging over her face.

'Aizen… AIZEN!!!' Rukia screamed. She threw her head back so her hair fell back into place. She felt something change inside her. All of her sorrow turned into rage. 'I'll kill you!' she yelled. Before Ichigo could do anything else, Rukia had already appeared in front of him, drew her sword and slashed down at Aizen. The Aizen in front of them shattered. Rukia had never felt so angry. Her eyes were wide open and her pupils seemed to have become much smaller in her rage. She was breathing heavily.

'Rukia' Ichigo said quietly. Aizen was standing fairly far away from them.

'I never know when someone will try something like that.' Aizen smirked. 'That is why I always keep an illusionary copy of myself nearby.' The moment he finished speaking, Rukia had already rushed towards him, about to attack again. She didn't appear to have listened to what he said at all. Aizen blocked with his sword and held her back. She then felt something slash across her back. She looked around and saw another Aizen standing there. When she looked forward again, the Aizen she attacked was gone. 'You should have known I would keep more than one copy near me.' Rukia fell forwards. There was a large cut all the way across her back.

'Rukia!' Ichigo called. Her wound looked serious. He was about to run over to her but she stood up again with relative ease. She turned and faced Aizen again, still looking as angry as she did a moment ago.

'I would prefer it if you would stop attacking' Aizen said to her. 'You are still needed for my plan.' Aizen knew that he could just wait until her hollow came back in control but he also knew that he couldn't take her lightly as she was still very strong. Rukia didn't appear to listen to anything being said. She kept rushing towards Aizen and attacking only to find that every one of them was an illusion. The way she fought looked nothing like the way she normally did. Aizen managed to cut her a few more times in an attempt to make her stop. Rukia was taking fairly severe hits but she still only focused on attacking him, not even trying to defend herself. She had a large cut above her left eye, on her right arm, her stomach and right leg

'_She's getting hurt pretty badly. She won't last much longer if this keeps up.' _Ichigo thought. 'Rukia! Calm down!'

Rukia seemed to finally realize that attacking him constantly was getting her nowhere. She jumped back after cutting down another illusion. She didn't know if she was anywhere near the real Aizen or not.

'_Kill him' _she thought. 'I have to kill him!' She was attacking him up until now on what seemed to be primal instinct. She lifted her left hand up in front of her face. Her index and middle finger were spread apart so her right eye was visible. She then raised her zanpakutō up to where her hand was and pressed the hilt against the palm of her hand. 'SAGASE!' Ichigo looked shocked as he realized what she was doing. 'CERNÍCALO!'

* * *

Sagase- 探せ- search

Cernícalo- kestrel (according to an online dictionary, it's pronounced 'ther-nee-cah-lo')

I don't actually know any Spanish so all I did was search random birds on Wikipedia, picked a good one and put it in a translator. Don't ask why I thought it should be some form of bird. I thought the wings that I mentioned in an earlier chapter seemed pretty awesome at the time so I just stuck with a bird. I wanted to make it some form of arctic bird to fit Rukia better but all I could think of was a penguin and they don't really seem particularly threatening (cuddly if anything :3). I actually went through a few different good birds but they didn't sound particularly brilliant (falcon, buzzard, osprey) but none of their Spanish names sounded awesome enough for Rukia so I stuck with a kestrel (out of those three, buzzard seemed to be the best one, but the idea of a buzzard seemed kind of weird for Rukia.) I put cernícalo on some dictionary things and it came up with the same definition so I'm confident that it is correct. If someone reading this knows Spanish, please tell me if it is wrong.

The same goes for 'sagase.' I don't know a lot of Japanese so I was looking for various verbs. I think search fits with a kestrel because they have good vision (I think). Please tell me if that is wrong. Although, like i menioned at the beginning of the chapter, it might not come up even if i do change it.


	16. Saving Rukia

Like I said in the last chapter, this chapter and the next one will be coming out one day after each other so you can expect the next chapter sometime tomorrow.

Don't start giving me reviews like 'I don't like Rukia's Resurrección.' It's too late for me to change it and I won't listen to you anyway. Also, if you don't like her Resurrección, why are you reading this story? You knew it would happen at some point. (I know that most people reading will probably like it.)

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**Saving Rukia**

'SAGASE! CERNÍCALO!' Rukia yelled. The blade of her sword began to glow as reiatsu flew out of it. The reiastu completely covered Rukia so she wasn't visible. Ichigo stepped back as Rukia's reiatsu was rising to an extremely high level. Part of the nearby walls began to crumble.

'What's happening up there?' Renji asked out loud. Everyone else looked at the top of the stairs. All of the walls up there began to fall but they still couldn't tell what was actually going on.

'This is ridiculous!' Ichigo said to himself. 'How high is her reiatsu gonna go?' He was thinking that since Rukia was using her hollow powers, her hollow would return and she would attack him again in her Resurrección form. She almost killed him in her sealed state so he was dreading to think what would happen after using her Resurrección. Aizen merely stood and watched as the reiatsu that looked like a tornado finally began to shrink. Inside it, they could both see the shadow of her large wings.

The great tornado of reiatsu suddenly stopped and disappeared. There was a large indent in the ground where the base of it was. Rukia stood in the middle of it, looking down at the floor, in her Resurrección form. She had two large skeletal-looking wings that grew out from the top of her back. Her right arm now looked similar to her left. It was covered by the same material that the wings were made from. Her feet were also covered by it. She held a double edged scythe-like weapon in her right hand. The handle was jet black while the blades were pure white. Her jacket and hakama had been torn in some places as a result of the cuts that Aizen managed to land on her. The majority of her hakama that covered her right leg was completely torn. Before using her Resurrección, her wounds were bleeding a lot. Now, they weren't bleeding at all. Unlike most Resurreccións, Rukia's didn't seem to cause her wounds to close up. They were still there, they just weren't bleeding at all and she showed no signs of pain from them. When she finally looked up, Aizen and Ichigo noticed that she had a large triangle shaped purple mark underneath her left eye. Her right eye was still closed. Her mask looked slightly different too. It completely framed her right eye as opposed to just being around it. The two curved parts at the top had moved down slightly so they now stuck out to the side. When she opened her right eye, it also looked different. It was the same colour as before but now the pupil had become cat-like. She was staring at Aizen intently.

'Rukia, you became this powerful?' Ichigo looked at Rukia's new form. His eyes widened as he noticed her right leg. Underneath the cut on it, there was a number. 'Number 3!? She's stronger than Ulquiorra?'

'You wish to become a shinigami again, yet you use your full hollows powers without hesitation' Aizen smirked. 'It changes nothing though. You haven't come close to striking me at all.' Rukia didn't seem affected by his words at all. Aizen held up his sword. 'Kudakero.' He knew that Rukia and Ichigo could see him use his ability but it wouldn't change anything. Ichigo was too late to shield his eyes while Rukia didn't even move. When Ichigo looked up again, he saw many Aizens in front of him. Rukia saw the same thing too. 'Since you like to cut down my illusions so much…' Aizen's voice came from somewhere. '…kill all of these until you find the real me.' There must have been at least 20 copies but Ichigo was thinking that there were more that were hidden. Rukia smiled malevolently.

'Every time I kill one of them makes me feel so much better inside.' She laughed a little. 'This time though…' She raised her scythe. '…I'll find the real thing!' She didn't know why her anger had decreased but she now felt an intense desire to destroy everything in her way and she wanted to enjoy every moment of it. Ichigo didn't want to believe that this was the Rukia he had known. She wasn't attacking him which meant that her hollow was not in control.

Rukia rushed straight into where all the Aizens were. She focused on one of them and swung her scythe across to kill it. The Aizen jumped back before she hit it. All of the other Aizens shattered. Aizen raised an eyebrow.

'No way' Ichigo said in disbelief. 'She found the real one straight away.'

'I am unsure of how you managed to find me but I will make sure it wasn't just luck.' Aizen was actually surprised but he didn't let his voice or facial expression show it. He made all of his copies appear again. Rukia waited for all of them to appear. 'She is thinking completely different to how she was a moment ago. This is not the same person who fought earlier.'

She ran straight into the middle of them again but this time she cut down everything in her way. She laughed to herself as she did so. The real Aizen watched as Rukia swiftly destroyed most of the illusions. He watched as she came closer to him. He wasn't sure if she knew which one was real this time. She killed the closest illusion to him but seemed to go past the real one. She was smiling evilly as Aizen watched her pass him. Aizen then looked down. He saw a cut on his hand. The other illusions shattered again. Rukia had cut him as she went past. She pretended not to see him so he wouldn't notice.

'Impressive' Aizen said. 'No one has been able to hit me for a long time. This means that I will have to take you more seriously than I first imagined. It does not mean that you will be able to defeat me.'

'If you stand still, it makes it much easier for me' Rukia smiled. Aizen wiped the blood off of his hand. 'You can do whatever you want with your tricks. I will find you every time until I finally decide to kill you. I should thank you for these powers but you shouldn't have used me for your own personal gain. That's why I'm going to defeat you'

'_She's enjoying this'_ Ichigo thought. _'Rukia, have you really lost everything about yourself?'_ Rukia was acting like her hollow did when it fought Ichigo. Maybe there was no way to return her to normal.

Rukia continued to attack Aizen who was using fewer illusions now. Aizen was easily blocking her attacks. Even without his hypnosis ability, he was still a formidable opponent. He hoped that Rukia understood what she was going up against. She came close to landing a few hits on him quite a few times but Aizen wasn't coming close to hitting her. Aizen was quick to notice and react by moving out of the way. She looked like she had a complete advantage over him somehow. She knew where he was going to attack. Rukia stopped attacking briefly as they stood opposite each other.

'What is my power?' Rukia said as if she was answering a question. 'You should know it by now.' Aizen was actually about to ask what her power was but now he knew.

'I see' Aizen said calmly. 'You can see a short time into the future and you are able to see anything that attempts to hide. That is how you easily found me among all the illusions. A very fitting ability for a bird of prey like your Resurrección represents.'

'As long as you are alive, I can see where ever you try to go.' Rukia smiled. 'There is no escape.'

'I hope you realize that I am not nearly as serious as you are' Aizen replied. 'I will not kill you as you are still needed. I could just wait until you lose your mind to your hollow but I am unsure as to how long I will be waiting. I may just have to put you out of commission for a while.'

'I would like to see you try to do anything to me. I know all of what everything that I can see is going to do.' Rukia took her stance again. 'There is no way for you to win.' She rushed towards Aizen who stayed where he was and began to attack again. Aizen effortlessly moved his sword to block all of her attacks. He knew her power now so he knew what to be careful of. He planned his moves carefully, thinking about how to throw her off. She could only see what he was going to do. She couldn't tell what he was thinking about doing. He used shunpō which he was sure would confuse her slightly as she couldn't see everything around her. She already knew he would use shunpō but she didn't know where he would reappear. Aizen appeared behind her and slashed across. She only had enough time to block with her left arm. The blade cut into her arm but she managed to jump back. Her arm was cut fairly deeply.

'You were lucky you lost that arm' Aizen said. Rukia smiled as the part of her arm that had been cut began to regenerate.

'I'm not finished yet' she replied.

'RUKIA!' Ichigo yelled. 'That's enough.' Rukia looked over at him. She looked annoyed since he was bothering her. 'I won't let you carry on like this. You were here for a while when you first got here, but now it's like I don't know who you are.'

'Ichigo, I'm fighting him because this is me.' Rukia scowled at him. 'My hollow has nothing to do with this. If it was here, I would have killed you.' Ichigo looked into her eyes. There was none of the usual warmth or kindness that was usually shown in her eyes.

'Rukia, if you carry on with this, I won't be able to see you the same way again.' It was hard for Ichigo to talk to her like this. 'I don't care if you kill him or not. If you kill him the way you are now, then I will know that the Rukia I know doesn't exist anymore and I will have to kill you. I don't know if I can help you anymore, Rukia.' Rukia turned away from him and began walking towards Aizen to begin fighting him again. Ichigo used shunpō and appeared in front of her. 'I told you that I'm not letting you fight him anymore.'

'Get out of the way, Ichigo' Rukia threatened. 'Don't make me kill you.' She held her scythe tightly. She meant what she said. She would kill him if he still stood in her way. Ichigo could see this too.

'Now I know that it isn't Rukia in control' Ichigo said. 'You're the hollow inside her. You were slowly trying to take over Rukia's body again. But this time you had to get rid of the real Rukia before you could take over. That's why she still wanted to kill Aizen and not me. You hadn't fully taken control yet.'

'I told you already…' Rukia said quietly. '…I AM RUKIA!!!' She began to swing her scythe towards him but something caused her to stop. Ichigo slapped her hard across the face. He would have punched her in the stomach like she always did to him but her hollow hole was there so he would have only punched through her. She was looking to the side as the force of his slap knocked her head that way. She looked shocked as she never expected him to do that.

'Sorry about that, Rukia' Ichigo apologized. 'That hollow was pissing me off.' She looked back at him. She closed her eyes and started shaking slightly.

'IDIOT!' she shouted as she punched him in the stomach. Ichigo doubled over. Her arm was much more solid now so it hurt a lot more. 'What did you do that for?! I'm the one who's supposed to do that!'' she shouted again. She stopped shouting as she saw herself. She brought her hand back from where she punched him and looked at it. She knew she was in her Resurrección but she didn't remember using it. 'What? When did I do this?'

'Don't worry about it' Ichigo said. 'I'll tell you some other time.' Ichigo looked around to face Aizen but he wasn't there. Ichigo looked around franticly to find him. If he took them by surprise he would kill them. He then heard the sound of a sword piercing through something. Everything seemed to go silent. Was he dying? What happened?

Ichigo looked down to see if a sword was through him or a wound was there. There was nothing. He looked around slowly. He looked shocked as he saw what happened. Rukia didn't know what had happened either. She saw a sword coming out of her sternum. Aizen stood behind her with his sword going through her back. He pulled it back causing Rukia to stumble forwards. Ichigo caught her in his arms. The wings on her back began to break and so did the covering on her right arm and feet. Her scythe turned back into its sealed state. The wound on her back began to bleed again and so did the other wounds she got from before she went into her Resurrección. The place in her back where Aizen had just stabbed her was bleeding along with the exit wound at her sternum. Her eyes became blank and then began to close.

'Thank you for distracting her. It was becoming difficult for me to strike her' Aizen said in his usual tone. 'By the time she wakes up, she will lose to her hollow and forget about everything that has just happened.' Ichigo scowled. He couldn't do anything right now. He would have fought Aizen now but he knew that Rukia was dying. She had lost a lot of blood already. He turned away and headed towards the stairs, still holding Rukia. Her breathing was weak and blood was covering most of her body.

* * *

Renji, Chad, Ishida and Orihime were waiting at the bottom of the stairs. They stayed there after they felt the reiatsu from the above them. They felt that they would only get in the way if they went up there. They watched as Ichigo ran down holding something or someone. They waited until he reached the bottom of the stairs before saying anything.

'What was that reiatsu back then?' Chad asked. Ichigo didn't say anything. He just looked at what he was holding.

'Is that…?' Renji asked. Ichigo nodded. 'Rukia.' It was the first time he had seen her in a long time. She looked different but Renji knew it was his childhood friend. Ichigo noticed that her mask had reformed so it looked the way it usually did.

'She fought Aizen' Ichigo began. 'Because of me, she's dying. I don't know if she can hang on much longer. Aizen said that if she wakes up, her hollow will have returned.'

'Blame yourself later. We need to find the captains who came here' Ishida suggested. 'Any one of them should be able to help her.' He didn't know that Kenpachi was here so finding him wouldn't help at all.

'Unohana-taichō healed me earlier' Chad told them. 'We need to find her quickly.' Rukia then seemed too struggle to breathe briefly. She then seemed to unconsciously cough up blood which then began to pour slowly out from her mouth.

* * *

No! Rukia is dying! Oh wait... I did this to her! I wrote it! ARGH!!!!

Forgive me!!!!!!


	17. Become a shinigami again!

This is the last of the chapters that are coming out daily. Today was a good day as it was my birthday!!!! Yay! I'm 17 today! Hang on a minute. 17 years old, chapter 17? ARGH! SOME FORM OF PARADOX!!! Seriously though, I planned it so it would be like this. I wish my birthday was on the 17th though. That would be even more awesome. My friend's birthday was yesterday though. (Damn why can't we switch birthdays.) Anyway, enjoy chapter 17!

* * *

**Chapter 17**

**Become a shinigami again!**

Ichigo and the others were outside the building they entered, trying to find the captains. The desert was huge, they could be anywhere. That was they thought before actually trying to search for their reiatsu. They were all together which made it easier to find them. Kenpachi was sitting down looking bored, Kurotsuchi was examining some of the lifeforms in the area, Byakuya was also sitting down with his eyes closed and Unohana was watching out for anything that approached them.

'Someone is coming' she said softly. Kurotsuchi didn't pay any attention while Kenpachi and Byakuya stood up.

'Any more of them espada?' Kenpachi asked eagerly. 'I haven't fought for ages so I was beginning to get bored.'

'It is Kurosaki' Byakuya said. 'There is no need to get excited, Zaraki.'

'Heh' Kenpachi laughed. 'Even better! I get to fight Ichigo!'

'My my, can't I have any peace and quiet to conduct my research?' Kurotsuchi seemed slightly annoyed. 'This is a wonderful place for new specimens to experiment on. I must remember to bring some back to my lab' he said to himself. The other captains waited until Ichigo got there.

'Unohana-san, we need your help' Ichigo managed to say, despite being out of breath. He showed her the unconscious Rukia. Unohana looked slightly surprised as she noticed who it was.

'Kuchiki-taichō, you may want to see this' she said to Byakuya. Byakuya stepped over to where they were. He also showed some surprise. His sister, that he swore to protect, had become an arrancar and was dying.

'I expect an explanation later' he said as he turned away. Unohana took Rukia in her arms and rested her on the sand. She covered her with a blanket that she had brought with her. She knelt down beside her and placed her hands just above her. They began to glow with a green light as she healed Rukia's wounds.

Kenpachi sat down again. 'What am I supposed to do to kill some time?'

It took some time but Unohana healed all of Rukia's wounds. She told everyone that she would be fine but she wouldn't wake up for a while. Everyone waited around for Rukia to wake up. Ichigo sat right next to her. He didn't take his eyes off of her. He felt that this was his fault because he tried to help her even though he knew Aizen was nearby.

'_If her hollow comes back, I'll get rid of it straight away'_ he thought. He still sat there watching her until he heard footsteps in the sand nearby. He looked up to see Byakuya looking down at Rukia.

'What happened?' he practically demanded.

'When she was taken here, she was unconscious. Aizen turned her into this before she woke up' Ichigo told him. He thought it would be better if he told him that lie rather than the truth. Rukia probably would have told him the same thing. If he told him that she chose to do this to herself, he didn't know what Byakuya might have done.

'I see.' Byakuya looked suspiciously at Ichigo but he didn't argue with him.

* * *

Rukia was standing in a place that looked unfamiliar to her. She looked around and noticed that she was in a strange room. She also noticed that she was a shinigami again and that she had her left arm again. Aizen was standing behind her. Rukia spun around to face him. He held the Hōgyoku in his hand. He extended his arm towards her. Rukia tried to run away but she couldn't move.

'No!' she shouted. 'Get away!' The Hōgyoku touched her forehead for a moment before Aizen pulled it away. Rukia didn't feel the way she did before the pain occurred last time. She only felt the pain. The white substance was beginning to spread outwards from her forehead. Rukia didn't know why this was happening. She was already an arrancar, wasn't she? She looked down at herself and saw the top of her right hand begin to be covered by the bone-like material. The same thing was happening to her left hand and feet. 'Stop it!' she begged. 'I don't want this.'

Aizen and the rest of the room seemed to disappear but her transformation was still continuing. She was floating in a strange space with nothing around her when she first looked around. She looked up ahead and saw something. She saw three figures that were facing away from her. She could identify them straight away as Ichigo, Renji and Byakuya.

'Ichigo, Renji, Nii-sama!' she called to them. She tried to reach out to them but they all disappeared. When she noticed her arm that she reached out to them with, she saw that it was already covered by the bone material. Her stomach began to hurt as she felt something else happening. She could tell that it was her hollow hole. The mask had finished forming over her face. She briefly saw Sode no Shirayuki before everything turned black.

* * *

Rukia slowly opened her eyes. She looked around and only saw the sand. She thought she had died when Aizen stabbed her. When she began to sit up, she brought her hand up to her head as it was hurting slightly.

'Why do I have to be constantly tormented by that day?' she asked herself. She wanted to forget it but she knew that she would never be able to do so.

'Rukia.' She heard someone say. It immediately caught her attention. She looked around behind her and saw Ichigo and Renji walking towards her. 'How're you feeling?' Ichigo asked.

'I've felt better' she said. 'My head just hurts a little bit.'

'Rukia, did you really do this to yourself?' Renji asked.

Rukia looked down. 'Yes' she answered. 'I don't know why I did it. I knew it was wrong but I did it anyway.'

'Was everything about wanting to get stronger true as well?' Ichigo asked. Rukia nodded.

'I didn't always think that.' Rukia was disappointed with herself. 'I only wanted to help people. I just want to be a shinigami again but that probably won't happen.'

'There has to be a way to turn you back, right? I'll find that way.' Rukia smiled a little but then looked sad.

'Nii-sama saw me, didn't he?' she asked sadly.

'Yeah, but I told him that when you woke up here, you were already like this.' Ichigo explained.

'He probably doesn't care anyway' Rukia said. 'I'm just an arrancar now. I'm an enemy of the Soul Society.'

'Rukia, you're still the same person you were as a shinigami' Renji told her.

'No I'm not' Rukia shook her head. 'I don't know what I've been doing but I know I did terrible things.' Ichigo slapped Rukia across the face again.

'Don't be stupid!' he yelled. 'That wasn't you.' Rukia looked at the floor. 'You can have this back.' Ichigo gave her Sode no Shirayuki. 'We're going back in there soon. You don't have to come if you don't want to.'

'I'll stay here' she said. 'I don't want to do anything yet. I still don't feel particularly great.'

'Okay then' Renji said. He knew that Rukia would be safe if she was here with the captains so he had no objections. 'Should we go now?' he asked Ichigo.

'Yeah, we might as well go now.' He turned to call Ishida and Chad. 'We're going now' he told them. They were going to let Orihime stay here too as she would most likely be targeted by any arrancar they meet. 'See ya later' he said to Rukia. She nodded.

They all left to head back into where they were before. Rukia watched them leave. She stayed where she was and picked up Sode no Shirayuki. She focused on it and entered her inner world. She looked around to find Sode no Shirayuki. She was standing where she usually was.

'Shirayuki!' she called. She ran over to her and hugged her. 'I thought I would never see you again.' She looked up at her sadly.

'You managed to return to your body it seems' Sode no Shirayuki said. 'It still doesn't mean that I will lend you my power though.'

'What? Why not?' Rukia was confused. 'I don't want your power for myself anymore. I don't know what to do without you.'

'Your mind may have returned, but your hollow acted by the way you felt inside' she said. 'I don't know if I can trust you anymore.' Rukia knelt down and looked at the ground.

'I'm sorry for what I did' Rukia said softly. 'I didn't know that I would lose myself. All I wanted was to stay alive. I didn't mean to leave you behind.'

'When you truly have conquered your darkness, I will lend you my power' Sode no Shirayuki told her.

'How can I do that?' Rukia asked.

'Think for yourself' she replied coldly. Everything turned white and Rukia found herself outside again.

'Shirayuki, how can I prove that to you?' she asked her sword. 'I want to fight with you by my side again.'

'Rukia' Byakuya said as he walked over to her. Rukia looked at him before turning away in shame. She didn't want him to see her even though she knew that he had done earlier. He sat down beside her. 'Tell me what happened.' He spoke in a softer tone than the way he said it to Ichigo.

'I was already like this when I woke up here' she said. She remembered what Ichigo said so he wouldn't find it suspicious.

'What about your arm?' he asked. Rukia said nothing. She hadn't thought about that. He knew she was lying. If she said she had lost her arm as an arrancar, he would know it was a lie. It would have regenerated as her normal arm. 'Do not lie to me, Rukia.'

'I'm sorry, nii-sama' she said sadly. She had to tell him everything. 'When I woke up, I was still a shinigami. My arm was lost in the result of being attacked by a hollow before this happened. I was going to die and I couldn't take the pain anymore so I…' She didn't want to finish. 'I chose this so I could live.'

'Is that all?' he asked.

'Yes, I didn't know that Ichigo and the others were trying to come here to help me so I thought that they didn't want to rescue me' she said. She felt stupid now because she knew that they would never have left her behind. 'I don't remember anything else.' She paused. 'Are you going to kill me? I'm just an arrancar now. I can't return to the Soul Society like this.'

'I don't wish to turn my back on Hisana's last wish' he said. Rukia liked hearing Byakuya talking about Hisana. She never knew her sister which made her feel sad inside. 'I will protect you with the best of my ability. It is what she would have wanted.'

'Thank you very much, nii-sama.' Rukia felt slightly better now. She was sure that Byakuya would hate her for becoming an arrancar. Byakuya stood up and walked back to where he was before. After waiting for a while, she called Orihime over. 'Inoue, I want you to restore my arm to the way it was. To do that though, I need to cut this one off.'

'Kuchiki-san, do you really want that?' she asked. Rukia nodded. 'I will do it for you but are you sure that's what you want?'

'Yes, I want to become a shinigami again. That is why I need your help.' Rukia said. She raised her arrancar zanpakutō and placed it on an area of her left arm that still had skin on it. She took a deep breath in before pressing down hard on it. She bit her lip to try to hold in the pain. It took more effort to cut it off than she thought. That part of her arm still had bone in it which was the hardest and most painful part to get through. She finally cut through and watched as it fell on to the sand. Orihime began to restore her arm. An orange coloured bubble formed around where her arm was. It took a little while to heal but eventually her arm had reformed. Rukia felt much better now as she didn't have to avoid looking at her arm anymore. She looked down at the floor where the arm she just cut off was. She then used a kidō to destroy it. 'Thank you, Inoue' she said with a smile.

'I'm glad you're back to normal Kuchiki-san' she smiled too. 'I thought we wouldn't see you like this again.'

'I'm going to go with them' she said to her. 'I want to be able to help them.'

'I'm sure that you will be a big help to them.' Orihime stood up and returned to where she was with Kenpachi and Yachiru.

Rukia had actually been sitting there for some time. Maybe she was in her inner world for longer than she thought. Ichigo and the others were probably quite far ahead by now. She took Sode no Shirayuki and stood up. She noticed her other sword nearby as well. She knelt down and picked it up too. She looked at it as it sat in her hands. She tightened her grip on it and then threw it as far as she could. She never wanted to see it again. Her hollow left Sode no Shirayuki behind, so she was leaving her hollow's sword behind. She then realised that she was still wearing her partially torn arrancar uniform. She considered asking for shinigami robes. But she then thought that spare robes probably weren't usually carried around and also that any arrancar she would see wouldn't attack her if she was still wearing their uniform. She then set off in the direction that Ichigo and the others had gone.

She ran down the corridors trying to sense their reiatsu. Whenever she sensed any arrancar nearby she slowed down to a walking pace so she wouldn't cause them to ask any questions. She hadn't met any of the remaining espada which was also a good thing. Aizen never usually told any arrancar lower than espada what was going on around Hueco Mundo. The espada may have been told that she would have regained her old self. She would have to avoid them if she sensed any of them but they were good at hiding their reiatsu so it would be more difficult than she thought. After running down more corridors, she noticed that they were getting taller and wider. Why they were like this was beyond her. Surely there would only be a few arrancar walking down them at one time.

'What's the rush?' a voice said from above. Rukia looked around but didn't see anyone. She hadn't felt any reiatsu here. The person jumped down behind her making a large noise.

'What do you want, Yammy?' she asked, trying to act the way her hollow may have acted. She may be able to lie to get her way through this. Yammy wasn't exactly what anyone would call smart.

'Didn't ya hear me?' he asked. 'I asked ya why yer in such a rush.'

'Kurosaki is here isn't he? I'm going to find and kill him' she replied.

'Really?' he asked. 'I heard you tried to attack Aizen a while ago. You sure you ain't going for him instead?'

'That was Kurosaki's fault.' She had to try to think of something quick. 'He did something to me and the shinigami part of me took over.'

'Eh?' He was confused now. 'How'd that happen? Ain't your shinigami form shit weak?'

'I don't know how he did it' she replied. She had to try to restrain herself from attacking him.

'You don't have to hold back' he smiled evily. 'I'm not so stupid that I didn't notice your arm.' Rukia had completely forgotten about that.

'You won't be able to do anything to me.' She drew her zanpakutō. 'I'll kill you before you get the chance.'

'I was starting to get bored anyway. It's not every day that you get to face a former comrade.' He also drew his sword. 'Buchikirero! Ira!' Rukia was surprised to see him release straight away but was then shocked to see how big he grew after it. His size was incredible. He looked like some sort of dinosaur creature. He towered over Rukia who could only stare at him. The number 1 on his tattoo began to disappear which shocked Rukia even more.

'Zero?!' Rukia exclaimed in disbelief. She stepped back quite a large distance.

'That's right!' he boomed. 'What can number 3 do against me?!'

* * *

If you didn't know Yammy was actually the zero espada, oh well. I've spoiled it for you now. It's not particularly a big spoiler though.

Well that's the end of my three day streak of continuous chapters. I'll continue with the story (obviously). It won't be coming out daily though

I never said it in the other chapters but… review!


	18. 0 versus 3

**Chapter 18**

**0 versus 3**

'What's wrong?' Yammy asked. 'You said you were going to kill me before I get the chance to do anything.' Rukia stared up at him in shock. She never knew anything about this. The zero should mean that he was the strongest espada while Rukia was number three. Their ranks showed Rukia at a huge disadvantage. His immense size meant that he could probably kill her in a few hits. But since he was so huge, it probably meant that he was very slow and he could be hit in many more places. She could attack any of his legs or his back and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

'I did say that' Rukia replied. 'It's just going to take a bit longer now.' She said that to him but she felt extremely nervous. She knew that she couldn't underestimate him. One hit could be near fatal.

Yammy grinned. 'You're still going to fight? I wouldn't have let you run anyway. I just enjoy beating the crap out of everyone.' He charged a cero instantly from his mouth. He fired it straight at her. It looked immensely powerful but it was still the same as all other ceros. Rukia dodged it with ease. Its destructive power left a large crater in the ground

'Mae! Sode no Shirayuki!' she called. She didn't want to test his strength by fighting with a sealed zanpakutō. Her eyes widened as nothing happened. 'Shirayuki! What's wrong?' Her voice echoed in her mind.

'_When you truly have conquered your darkness, I will lend you my power'_

'No! Shirayuki! I need you!' she pleaded. 'I can't fight without you' she whispered. If she couldn't fight with her released zanpakutō, she would surely die and no one was nearby to help her. She reached down to the side to get her other sword. It wasn't there. She just remembered that she threw it away. _'No, I don't need that anyway. I can do this with my own strength.' _She couldn't use her Resurrección either.

'Eh?' Yammy said. 'What're you doing down there? I can't really hear you that well.' Rukia used sonido and appeared behind him. She would have to fight with Sode no Shirayuki's sealed form. She slashed at his back only to find out that it didn't do anything. Rukia gasped. His hierro was incredibly strong. Yammy swung his arm around to try and swat her away but she moved out of the way in time and landed on the ground. 'Did you try something? I didn't feel anything at all.'

'_Is this it?' _she thought _'I can't use Sode no Shirayuki or my Resurrección and I can't even get a scratch on him. Am I… going to die? No, I have to think of something.' _She tried to sonido where he wouldn't be able to see her. She appeared near his legs and attempted to cut them. She still couldn't get through his hierro. Yammy lifted one of his legs up to stomp on her. Rukia dodged it as she knew that he would try it. _'Can I even hurt him at all?'_ She was then hit by his hand that he had swept along the floor. She was hit from behind when she was thinking to herself. She flew forward and smashed into the wall.

'You left yourself open!' he yelled. Rukia was trying to climb out through all the rubble but her strength seemed to have left her. She was practically sitting there waiting for her death now. 'I wish you could have put up more of a fight but I'll kill you anyway!' He threw a punch that was heading straight for her. It looked like he had put all of his might into it. Rukia watched it come towards her with intense fear in her eyes.

'_This really is it for me. I can't get away. He will kill me in a moment. I still don't want to die but I can't do anything to stop him.' _Rukia held up her sword so it was pointing at him. She didn't know why she did it. Sode no Shirayuki would be crushed by his fist along with her. _'I don't want to die! Shirayuki! Help me!' _she screamed in her head. 'Hakuren!' she shouted out loud, hoping something would happen. She closed her eyes and turned her head away. She didn't want to see her death in front of her own eyes.

She opened her eyes when she felt that she wasn't dead. She looked forward again and saw that she was still pointing Sode no Shirayuki at him. It was in its pure white shikai form. Yammy's fist and most of his arm had been completely frozen.

'What the…!' he yelled as he struggled to break his arm out. The ice that she had shot out was much thicker and had a wider range than she had ever done before. Rukia managed to stand up again. She didn't know how anything had just happened. Sode no Shirayuki had said that she didn't want to help her while she was an arrancar. She only said the name of the attack because that was what she would have done anyway.

'Shirayuki, you helped me?' she asked. She didn't get a response. 'Thank you' she said. She turned back to Yammy who was punching the ice with his other hand. He eventually broke it and rubbed his arm a bit to warm it up again.

'You still have some fight left in you' he smirked. 'It wouldn't be any more fun if you didn't!' he yelled as he threw another punch. Rukia jumped out of the way. Now that she had Sode no Shirayuki, she was trying to think of something so she could fight him. Yammy began charging a cero from his mouth again. Rukia stopped in front of him.

'Hadō no san-jū-san! Sōkatsui!' She wasn't sure if it would work since she wasn't a shinigami but she didn't want to use her own cero. Her attack worked, much to her surprise. She fired it at his face to stop his cero. Her kidō was much faster than his cero so it hit him before he could finish. His own cero exploded in his face.

'You bitch! That hurt!' he yelled in rage. He punched the air and sent several bala shots out at her. They were much faster than ceros but they were still fairly easy to dodge. Rukia realised that she never used bala. Perhaps it might have helped in some situations.

'Some no mae, Tsuki Shiro!' she called. She formed the ice circle underneath where Yammys head was. If she could hit him now, it may kill him. Rukia noticed that she could use more of Sode no Shirayuki's power now. The Hakuren she used earlier was more powerful and Tsuki Shiro was larger and she could place it wherever she wanted it to go. Yammy looked down as the circle began to glow.

'Huh? More ice shit?' He stomped on the circle with his foot. The ice that he stomped on shattered so it wouldn't affect him. The part of it he didn't step on rose up to the ceiling but it just went in front of him. He then punched it and broke it instantly. He knew how much force to use to break the ice now. He looked around for her as the ice fell down. He couldn't see her anywhere. He looked behind and saw her about to use another Hakuren aimed at his feet. 'Quit fucking around!' he bellowed. He swung his club like tail down. Rukia didn't expect it and was knocked away by the shockwave that it caused. His tail hit the area right behind her so she was knocked forwards.

Yammy had reached down with his hand and grabbed her. Rukia couldn't get out of his grip. He was holding her tightly so she couldn't escape. Her arm that was holding Sode no Shirayuki was still able to move but her range with it was limited. She wouldn't be able to cut him at this distance anyway.

'You can't make any more ice without this.' He grabbed the blade with his other hand, broke it off and crushed it. He then tightened his grip on Rukia. She cried out in pain. He stopped crushing her briefly as he brought Rukia closer to him. 'I want to hear you beg for your life' he laughed as he began crushing her again.

'_No one knows I'm here. I'm going to die' _she said to herself. _'I can't use Shirayuki anymore. I'm losing consciousness.' _Her body began to go limp. But it was then that she remembered something. She tried to hold what was left of her sword up. She could only bring it up far enough so it was pointing at his wrist. 'San no… mae, Shirafune' she whispered. The blade began to form again on the other side of his wrist and back up to what was left of the sword. When it fully formed, it was through his wrist.

'What the fuck?' he exclaimed as his hand began to freeze along with most of his arm. Rukia was unaffected by it. She cut across which cut off his hand. Rukia fell down along with it but she turned around and pointed her sword at the ground.

'Hakuren!' she yelled. She made a large tower of ice that she landed on before she fell down too far. She was getting tired out because of what just happened. She didn't know what else she could do. He knew her attacks now. He would know how to block them all. _'Can I really do this without my hollow powers?'_

'You'll pay for that!' Yammy bellowed. He had a full arm but it had no hand now. He punched the ice tower with his available hand. Rukia had to move quickly but it was tiring her out too much. She fell to the floor. 'You were just starting to piss me off and you can't take no more. Pathetic shinigami. This time you will die for sure!' He lifted his foot to crush her once and for all. Rukia closed her eyes slowly.

'_I'm too tired to do anything. I can't stop him. I let you down, Shirayuki. I'm sorry.'_ Rukia accepted her fate. _'I became an arrancar. I don't deserve to live.' _She tried to push her sword away to stop it from being crushed. She then felt something strange inside her. Rukia knew what was happening. 'No' she said. Yammy stepped back. Was she really begging for her life now? He watched as she grabbed her head. No! Please, NO!' she cried. She then began laughing to herself. 'If she can't even beat you, she must be shit weak' Rukia said. She began to stand up again and picked up her zanpakutō. 'Stupid bitch, she threw away the only chance she had of winning any fight and now I don't have it either. Shirayuki will do just fine' she smiled evilly.

'I don't know what just happened but at least you're going to fight again.' Yammy grinned. Rukia used sonido to appear behind him instantly and used Hakuren without even calling its name. She froze his tail completely and a second later she shattered the ice which destroyed it. 'What? How the hell did you get so fast?' He swung his arm around to grab her but Rukia dodged it and slashed at his arm. Yammy watched as she actually managed to cut him quite deeply. 'How the fuck are you doing that?' he raged.

'I'm not the shinigami you faced.' Rukia's smile widened. 'I want to fight. I want power. I will kill everyone in my way. I'll kill you and then I'll kill Ichigo.'

Inside her inner world, Rukia opened her eyes. 'No, it's taken control again!' She couldn't see Sode no Shirayuki either. She then realised why she wasn't there. She was on the outside being wielded by her hollow. 'Shirayuki!' she cried. 'No! You can't have her!' she yelled to where ever the hollow was. Did Shirayuki know that Rukia wasn't in control anymore? If she didn't, she would think that Rukia was only using her to become more powerful.

'_She belongs to me now, just like your body' _her hollow said. It wasn't anywhere to be seen though.

'No! I won't let you use my body again!' Rukia shouted.

'You talk too much! Just die!' Yammy bellowed. He stomped his feet on the ground causing a large tremor. Rukia was thrown off balance for a short time as Rukia on the inside was fighting to regain control. Yammy grinned as he swung his arm along the floor to smash her into the wall again. She didn't have enough time to recover and was hit by it.

'_Stay out of this!' t_he hollow yelled at Rukia. _'You can't do this without my help!'_

'I don't care! Let go of Shirayuki! You don't deserve to use her!' Rukia was trying to get back in control for Sode no Shirayuki.

'_If I can't use her, you can't either.'_

'I know' Rukia replied. 'I don't deserve her anymore. But I want to help her! If she doesn't want be with me anymore, I'll help her find someone who deserves her power!'

'_Just keep out of the way until I finish this guy off.' _Rukia had no choice but to listen to the hollow for now. It would be able to fight and hopefully kill Yammy. Rukia was too exhausted to carry on. She had to let the hollow use her body for now.

Back on the outside, Yammy wasted no time in attempting another punch at her. Rukia charged a cero and fired it at him. It burnt his hand quite considerably.

'You're really pissing me off!' he yelled. 'DIE!' He charged his own cero while firing balas out of his hand at the same time. Rukia stood up but felt her arm was injured from being hit into the wall.

'I wouldn't have this trouble if she didn't cut that arm off' Rukia muttered. She watched as the cero fired with the many balas going with it. She sprinted forward at the last moment to avoid all of it. The area where she was before was now completely destroyed. She then suddenly had an idea. She stopped right in front of him. Yammy thought that something was causing her to stop again. This time, he grabbed her again. He made sure her sword was inside his grip this time.

'Now you can't do anything!' he boomed. He charged what looked to be a final cero. Rukia smiled as she looked down at the floor.

'Tsuki Shiro' she said calmly. The circle of ice appeared on the floor directly below her. This time, it looked different. It had a crescent moon shape. The ice shot up to the ceiling. The ice caught Yammys wrist and shielded Rukia from the cero he was charging. The ice then shattered and cut off his remaining hand. His hand fell down as Rukia got out of its grip. She pointed her sword at his head. 'So long, number zero' she said coldly. 'Hakuren!' Yammy couldn't do anything to stop the incoming wave of ice.

'FUCKING SHINIGAMI!' he bellowed as the ice covered his head. It shattered completely. His head was completely gone, all broken inside the ice. His gargantuan body toppled over causing the ground to shake violently. Rukia landed on the ground unharmed.

'You beat him so get out of my body!' Rukia yelled from the inside. 'Give Shirayuki back!'

'I was never gone, Rukia' a voice said. Rukia looked around and saw Sode no Shirayuki emerge from the many trees.

'Shirayuki!' Rukia ran over to her. 'Why did you let me use your power? I was afraid that my hollow had taken you away after you let me use shikai.'

'I couldn't let you die after I have been with you for so long. You tried to defeat him without the powers you gained as a hollow to regain my trust.' She smiled.

'Does that mean that you will help me again?' Rukia asked. Sode no Shirayuki nodded.

'_I like this body. I'm not leaving until you die.'_ The hollow laughed.

'Come in here' Rukia said. 'One of us is going to leave this body. I'm going to force you out.'

'_Interesting' _she said as she appeared before Rukia in her inner world. _'If you defeat me, I have to go, right?'_

'I won't just defeat you' Rukia told her. 'I'll kill you so you can never come back!' The hollow looked exactly like what Rukia looked like on the outside but it had yellow eyes. It was holding the sword that contained her Resurrección. Rukia was in her shinigami form standing next to Sode no Shirayuki. The two opposites faced each other.

'_If I kill you, I'm keeping this body and Sode no Shirayuki' _the hollow said. _'With no one in control of your outside body, it will begin to revert to its original hollow form. I can't tell what will happen after the mask fully forms, but I guess one of us is going to find out soon enough.'_

Rukia nodded. She knew that she wouldn't be able to stop what was going to happen to her body. She would have to try to kill the hollow in front of her quickly to stop what was going to happen. Sode no Shirayuki turned into her sword form so Rukia could use her strength.

'_You know that Shirayuki won't be enough to defeat me.' _The hollow held up its own zanpakutō. It began to glow brightly. Rukia couldn't see anything until it had stopped glowing. She looked in horror at her hollow now. Her hollow was using her Resurrección but it looked slightly different now. There were four wings on its back as opposed to the two that Rukia had when she used it. The scythe was longer and thinner now and had a sharpened edge at the end of the handle. Its hands and feet were still covered by the bone material but they looked more like razor sharp talons now. The mask was almost completely gone as it now only had the two curved parts at the top just above its eye. _'Shall we begin?'_

'Shirayuki, let's do this together' Rukia said to her.

* * *

Yammy didnt do many attacks other than simple punches and stomps because I can't think of anything else for him to do.


	19. Fight for control

This is my longest chapter! Yay! Length of chapter doesn't really mean anything though.

I've been up in Manchester for two days! It wasn't particularly good though. The bed in the hotel was awful and I didnt have my laptop so I couldn't carry on with my stories. -.-

For some reason, I watched the Rukia vs Aaroniero fight dubbed. Why I did that, I dont know. It was awful compared to the subbed version. Aaroniero's masks sound like Darth Vader and a really annoying 5 year old. They also say his name like Aaro-ni-ero Aruru-eri and his sword is spoken like 'Gloto-ne-ria' which sounds like a disease. Rukia's voice wasnt much better (never thought I would say that but it's the dub so i will say it). When she uses her shikai she says it like this: 'Dance Sodeno Shirayuki'. IT'S NOT SODENO! THAT'S NOT A WORD! Also when she uses her last move to kill him she says it like 'Sanno Mae'. Once again, IT'S TWO SEPARATE WORDS! SANNO IS NOT ONE WORD!

Back on topic of the chapter: The scene changes a lot. The underlined, italic words show you where the next few paragraphs take place.

Also, sometimes I refer to Rukia's hollow as 'it' and sometimes as 'she'. Sometimes I even refer to it as Hollow Rukia. It sounds confusing here but I don't think it's that confusing when you actually read it. If it doesn't make sense, tell me and I'll change it.

**

* * *

Chapter 19**

**Fight for control**

_Inner World_

Rukia took a defensive stance as she didn't know what to expect from her hollow. They both stood there for some time. Hollow Rukia used sonido straight away. Rukia quickly looked around to see her appear behind directly behind and slash across. Rukia jumped forwards avoiding the attack. It looked very strong so she didn't want to risk having it going straight through Sode no Shirayuki.

'Running away won't get you anywhere' Hollow Rukia taunted. She was right; there was nowhere to run to. Rukia didn't even know where anything was in her inner world.

'Some no mae, Tsuki Shiro!' Rukia called. The snow on the floor hid the location of the ice circle. Her hollow knew vaguely where it would be. It would be pointless to use that attack if she wasn't going to place the circle near her. She flew straight at her at a blinding speed. The ice pillar rose up but it hadn't done so quickly enough. It missed her almost completely.

'Too slow!' it yelled as it rapidly came closer to killing Rukia.

_Hueco Mundo_

On the outside, Rukia's hollow mask had now completely formed over her face. There were very small eye holes now. The bone material covered her arms and most of her legs. The wings had formed as well. She wasn't holding a scythe now. Two blade-like weapons had grown out of her wrists on each arm. She still held Sode no Shirayuki. She looked around but didn't see anything other than Yammy's dead body.

Ichigo and the others rushed back to where they thought the tremor came from earlier. They had found Ulquiorra earlier. Ichigo fought him and after a long and tough battle, he managed to win. They reached the area where it came from. They saw the huge corpse of Yammy on the ground. They were then shocked to see what they thought was Rukia.

'Rukia?' Ichigo said as he approached her with caution. Rukia looked up at him.

'What's happened to her?' Renji asked out of confusion.

'She's in her hollow form' Ishida said.

'Did she kill him?' Chad looked over at the dead Yammy.

'_Is this like what happened to me when I was training with the vizards?' _Ichigo thought. _'Is she fighting her inner hollow?' _Rukia approached them slowly and raised her sword slightly. 'She doesn't know what she's doing. She's going to try to kill us.' Rukia rushed at them all. Everyone jumped out of the way in time.

_Inner World_

'Bakudō no yon! Hainawa!' Rukia chanted. A rope of reiatsu entangled the hollow's arms. It broke out very quickly but Rukia had saved herself for now. She didn't expect it to hold her down for long.

'Your kidō spells won't work on me forever' her hollow said in response to the kidō. 'You can only perform up to a certain number before you need the incantation, am I right?' Rukia knew that the most powerful kidō she could use without the incantation was Sōkatsui. It was only number 33 which most likely wouldn't even hurt her at all. She wouldn't have the time to use any higher level spells. As soon as it had broken out, the hollow was rushing back at her. Rukia blocked it but it took a lot of effort to push her back.

'Tsugi no mae, Hakuren!' The ice wave aimed right at the hollow. Hollow Rukia fired a cero right through it that Rukia had to dodge.

'I know all of what you can do. You cannot defeat me.' Hollow Rukia rushed at her again. Rukia couldn't block her attack and was stabbed in the stomach with the sharp edge of the scythe's handle. Hollow Rukia pulled the blade out of her stomach and kicked her on to the ground. She walked over to Rukia who couldn't get up and stamped her foot on to her chest. 'Hmph, not even a challenge. This is my body now. Thanks to you, Shirayuki belongs to me. I'll show everyone the power that Kuchiki Rukia has gained. That is what you always wanted on the inside.' Hollow Rukia stood over her in triumph.

_Hueco Mundo_

Rukia's hollow form was attacking all of them. She was constantly changing targets but had no idea of any strategy. No one tried to attack her back as they weren't sure what would happen to her if she came back to her senses. She didn't show any signs of returning to normal.

After rushing after Ishida, she looked around and flew towards Ichigo. She swiped down at him with her claw like hands. He lifted his sword up to block them. Her golden eyes were glaring into Ichigo's. Ichigo knew that Rukia had to defeat her hollow in order to return to normal but he also knew that it would take at least an hour or so before she could win. He and all the other vizards had beaten their hollows in similar times that were around an hour long. If she could beat it here, would she become a vizard too? He didn't want that to happen as the vizards had been exiled from the Soul Society. He didn't want Rukia to be exiled because of something that wasn't her fault. He knocked her back several times but she kept coming straight back at him.

He watched as one of her hands reached up to her mask. Had she defeated it? Instead of ripping the mask off, she punched the left side of it. Most of it broke off but some of it was still on the right side of her face. What did this mean? If the mask was still there, it meant that she hadn't beaten it yet. She looked up at him and smiled evilly.

'Ichigo, remember me?' Rukia laughed.

'_No, did she lose to it?' _he thought. 'Rukia! Don't let it take over!'

'You can't help her now. We had a deal. Whoever wins takes this body.' Rukia only focused on Ichigo now while the others tried to help him but Rukia knocked them all away. 'She was too weak so I killed her. Now I'll be the one in control forever.'

'No! She wouldn't lose to you!' Ichigo knew that Rukia would fight her hardest to get rid of this hollow. She wouldn't let herself be killed.

Rukia charged back at Ichigo again. She was so much stronger than when she was when he last had to face her and much stronger than she was a moment ago. Ichigo was still tired from his battle with Ulquiorra so he couldn't keep her away very well. She continued to charge towards him with the intent to kill him.

_Inner World_

Rukia lay on the snow unable to get back up. 'I… can't let it win. If I die here, I'll lose my body and Shirayuki. I promised that I would never let anyone take Shirayuki away. I told her that I would protect her.' Her vision began to fade.

_Flashback_

Rukia was training where Kaien usually took her, deep in the forest near the 13th division. She was still trying to learn the name of her zanpakutō. Almost everyone else in the division had learnt the name of their own zanpakutō. Rukia wanted to learn it so she could try to at least gain a seated position. Kaien had told her that he was going back to the barracks quickly as he needed to fill in for Ukitake who was ill again. Rukia said that she would be fine on her own. She practised many different types of attack so she would be able to kill hollows easier. She came here regularly to train with Kaien who usually sparred with her. After practising for a while she heard something.

'_It is time, young one'_

Rukia looked around. She didn't know who spoke. Kaien wasn't back yet but it couldn't have been him anyway as the voice was definitely female. Was it a hollow?

'Who's there?' Rukia said nervously.

'_Don't be afraid' _the voice said.

'I don't know who you are!' Her voice was shaking now.

'_My name is…'_ It said. Rukia somehow knew the things name.

'So- Sode no… Shirayuki' Rukia was scared because this thing was inside her but she knew its name somehow. Everything turned white for a short time. Rukia looked around after the light faded. She saw trees and snow everywhere. This wasn't the same forest she was in a moment ago. 'Where is this place?' She began to cry a little. She was cold and alone. 'I don't know what's happening! I want to go back!' She heard footsteps in the snow nearby. Was this the thing that was talking to her? 'Leave me alone!' Rukia shouted. She knelt down in the snow and closed her eyes tightly. She heard the thing walking closer to her but she didn't open her eyes to look at it. It stopped right next to her.

'Do not be frightened' the voice said softly. Rukia slowly opened her eyes so she could look at the thing that had spoken. She looked up and saw a beautiful woman wearing a white kimono. She had a kind look on her face.

'Wh-who are you?' Rukia asked her.

'My name is Sode no Shirayuki' she said. 'I am your zanpakutō and this is your inner world.' Rukia stared at her in shock. This was the person that she had somehow known.

'_Sode no Shirayuki?' _she thought. _'This was the person who talked to me earlier. She's beautiful. Is she really my zanpakut_ō?' Rukia stood up slowly and looked at the person in front of her again. 'You have a nice name' she said. Sode no Shirayuki smiled.

'Thank you. Can I ask for your name?' she asked.

'I- I'm Kuchiki Rukia' Rukia replied. She still felt a little uneasy.

'You have a nice name too' Sode no Shirayuki said kindly. Rukia smiled a little.

'Are you really my zanpakutō?' Rukia asked. Sode no Shirayuki nodded.

'You have always cared for your sword despite not knowing my name' she said. 'I felt that you were ready to use my power.' Rukia had always taken good care of her zanpakutō. She hoped that one day she could finally meet it. She had told herself that she would always protect and be kind to her sword even if she never met it.

'I don't know if I'm ready yet. I haven't even used my sword very much' Rukia told her.

'I knew when you used your sword. I could tell that you were trying your hardest to learn my name.' She placed her hand softly on Rukia's head. 'I know that you are ready.'

'If you are sure I'm ready, I'll try to make you happy' Rukia said. 'Sode no Shirayuki, can… can I call you Shirayuki for short?' she asked. 'Th-there's nothing wrong with your full name' she added quickly.

'You don't have to be so nervous, Rukia' she said calmly. 'You can call me Shirayuki if you wish.' She smiled kindly at her.

'Thank you, Shirayuki.' Rukia had finally calmed down. 'I'll make sure to take good care of you and protect you.' Rukia had never expected to learn her zanpakutō's name any time soon. She then felt herself drifting slowly away. Sode no Shirayuki waved good bye to Rukia as she left her inner world.

Rukia was back outside again. Everything was the way it was before she went into her inner world. She noticed Kaien still hadn't come back yet. She looked at her sword and stared at in awe. It was completely white with a ribbon on the end. It was beautiful just like Shirayuki herself.

'Kuchiki!' Kaien's voice called. 'You still there?' Rukia looked around and saw him walk out from the trees.

'Kaien-dono! Kaien-dono!' Rukia ran over to him excitedly. 'Look! Ilearnt her name!' She waved her sword in his face. Kaien had never seen Rukia so happy. She usually distanced herself from everyone so nobody really knew her.

'Wow, nice sword, Kuchiki' He was very impressed by her progress. 'It makes mine look hideous.'

'I met her as well and she was really nice to me.' Rukia couldn't contain her excitement.

'I'm glad to hear you've got off to a good start. Keep it that way 'cause otherwise it'll keep annoying you' he said. He grabbed his own zanpakutō. 'Ain't that right?!' he yelled to it. Rukia laughed as she imagined him going into his own inner world and having his zanpakutō annoying even more. 'So what can it do?'

'I don't know yet.' Rukia remembered that she didn't actually do anything else. 'My inner world had snow everywhere though.'

'So it's an ice type. There have been some powerful ice types before.' He was trying to remember some of them but had no luck. 'Oh yeah, the new squad 10 captain. He's got an ice type zanpakutō. You gonna try and get bankai so you can beat him?'

Rukia shook her head. 'I don't care if I don't get bankai. I just want to get to know Shirayuki better and get stronger together.' Rukia looked at her sword again. _'I'll always take care of you. I won't let anyone take you away.'_

_End Flashback_

'_That's right, back then I promised to always take care of her. I wanted to make her happy. I wanted to become stronger with her.'_ Rukia's vision was coming back. _'Shirayuki, I won't forget that promise. No one will take you away from me! I won't die until I'm sure you'll live on!' _ Rukia stood up again. She grabbed Sode no Shirayuki and glared at her hollow that was facing away from her. She walked slowly over to it.

_Hueco Mundo_

'Renji!' Ichigo shouted. Renji had intercepted her attack before it reached him. 'She's not after you; she only wants to kill me!'

'Shut up' he said back. 'I'm helping you out here and this is the thanks I get.'

'Move' Rukia said coldly. She didn't even sound like herself anymore.

'Rukia, fight it' he said to her.

'You were also a part of the darkness' Rukia said. Renji looked at her in shock. 'You were one of the people who grew stronger every day. My jealousy continued to grow until the day you let me go into my new family. You knew I didn't know what to do and you knew that by letting me go, you would barely see me again.' Renji now looked at her with concern. He didn't like the way this hollow referred to itself as Rukia but he knew that it had Rukia's feelings and memories. 'I won't ask you again…' she said. 'Move. Now.'

'I would care more about that right now if Rukia was telling me this' he said. 'You're not Rukia and those aren't your memories!' he yelled as he pushed her back a fair distance.

'This is becoming annoying' she sighed. 'Once I take this body for good, I will be Rukia. And I know a faster way to doing that.' She brought her hand up to her mask and rested her fingers on it. 'If I pull this off now, she'll be gone forever.' Everyone was about to rush forwards to stop her but she began sliding her fingers underneath a small part of it the mask. Everyone then stopped. She seriously was going to do it.

'You wouldn't do that' Ichigo said. 'You'll lose all of your powers as a hollow.'

'So what?' Rukia giggled. 'I may become a shinigami but it means that the real Rukia would be gone and no one will be able to bring her back.' She began pulling on it slightly. 'Since I'm in control right now, pulling this off will get rid of everything else inside except for Shirayuki.'

'_Shit, what are we supposed to do?' _Ichigo thought. _'If that mask comes off, Rukia will be gone forever.'_

_Inner World_

'Stay down on the ground' it said as it noticed Rukia slowly moving towards her. 'You can't defeat me. I'll be taking your body any moment now.'

'I can beat you.' Rukia was confident that she could. 'Shirayuki won't let me die. Ichigo and the others want me back to the way I was. I won't die until you're gone forever!'

'_Rukia!' _Sode no Shirayuki called.

'Shirayuki, what is it?' Rukia said to her.

'_Listen to me carefully'_ she said.

Rukia saw her hollow about to attack her again but did as Shirayuki told her to do. She told her to swing her sword to the side before it reached her. When the hollow did reach her it cut straight down on her. Rukia watched it and was very confused. The hollow wasn't even close to her but it had attacked. What it had actually cut was ice that had somehow taken Rukia's form. After the ice shattered, the hollow saw that Rukia was still standing. This must have been what Shirayuki wanted her to do. It created an ice statue of her in front of where she was so the hollow would think it was attacking the real Rukia. This technique wasn't a 'dance' either. Maybe she was able to use it at will.

'That ability… how did you do that?' The hollow looked at her in suspicion. 'I have no knowledge of that power.'

'Shirayuki told me how' Rukia said. 'She wouldn't give any of her power to you.'

'_Rukia, repeat what I am about to tell you' _Sode no Shirayuki said.

Rukia looked confused at first but repeated what Shirayuki had said. 'Yon no mae… Fubuki!' Her sword glowed and a blizzard emerged from it which covered everything from sight.

'What is this?!' the hollow demanded. It kept looking around to try to find Rukia but it still couldn't see anything. Rukia found that she could see everything as if the blizzard wasn't there.

'Shirayuki, thank you so much for your help' Rukia said to her. She appeared behind the hollow and slashed straight down on it.

'Damn you, you stupid bitch!' Hollow Rukia snarled. It fell down on to the ground, looking up at Rukia. 'You're nothing without me!'

'You can't take my body or Shirayuki. I wanted you out of my body the moment you got here. Now… GET OUT!' Rukia yelled. She kicked the scythe out of the hollow's hand and stepped on the hand to prevent it from using a cero that would be aimed at her.

Her hollow laughed. 'You may have killed me and returned to normal but you will always know that I was here. The hollow that came from the Hōgyoku drew out your darkness and merged with it. That is what I am. I am a part of you. Allow me to return what I took from you.' A dark purple cloud of reiatsu came from its body and entered Rukia's. 'Go ahead. Kill me. Killing me will show that you aren't any better than I was.'

'I have overcome the darkness. All of what you just returned to me doesn't mean anything to me now. Some no mae, TSUKI SHIRO!' Rukia stepped away from it as the circle formed underneath the hollows body.

'The power you gained, you were happy with it despite the fact that you became everything you hated, weren't you' the hollow said just before the ice rose up and trapped it inside. Rukia swung her sword to the side. The ice cracked and shattered, leaving no trace of what was once there. The scythe that she had kicked away disappeared into darkness.

'I never had the chance to use all of it myself. I might have liked it if I was in control.' Rukia looked up at the sky.

_Hueco Mundo_

Back on the outside, Rukia suddenly pulled her mask hard and ripped it off of her face. After doing so she began to fall forwards. Ichigo ran forwards and caught her before she hit the floor to see what happened. If her hollow was there, he would have to kill her. The others watched as they didn't know what was going to happen when she woke up. She simply looked down at the floor. Her hollow hole seemed to close up which was strange to watch. A moment later she looked up again and looked around. She saw Yammy's dead body and everyone staring at her. No one said anything. Rukia just closed her eyes.

* * *

I really liked the flashback I wrote. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. :3

Quick Note: A reader (you know who you are!) has pointed out that Rukia is a bit out of character in the flashback. My reasoning for that was because she's a lot younger and errr excited to finally meet her sword (It took me a while to finish off this sentence after saying 'errr')

Fubuki- 吹雪- snowstorm

I felt like adding that move in because I wanted Rukia to beat the hollow in an awesome way. The hollow knew all of her other moves so it wouldn't have died if she used one of the moves that it knew about. When thinking about that, I had the idea of making this move a blizzard. When i looked up blizzard in Japanese, it was just burizado (That would sound kind of stupid). Snowstorm then came into mind so I searched for that instead. Fubuki sounds much better than burizado as I'm sure everyone will agree.

The ice form ability was taken from the current filler arc. Sode no Shirayuki used it once so I thought I could make Rukia do it as well. You could say her other move was taken from that arc too. Sode no Shirayuki held her hand out and blew on it it which caused an icy wind to appear. I thought I could do that on a larger scale.


	20. THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER!

**DISREGARD THIS CHAPTER!!!**

**THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER!!!**

Just to let everyone know this story is going to be on hold for a while. Sorry everyone!

The reason is because my laptop is the worst pile of crap I have ever owned.

It doesn't work. -.- And as you can imagine, I am ridiculously pissed off.

It has all my stories and all my other work on it too and it decides to completely screw itself up. I wrote this using the shared computer at my house. I won't be able to use it to write more because my dad is the one who uses it a lot. I'll be calling the shop I got it from at some point today so I have no idea when I can get it fixed.

If all my files are deleted, I will seriously go absolutely insane. I was working on the next chapter and writing notes for a possible new story to write in the near future.

So yeah, I thought I would just let everyone know about this just so people don't get too annoyed over me not publishing more chapters. This chapter will be replaced when I finally get my laptop working again.

While we're all waiting, feel free to look over the past chapters of my story. I finally learnt how to update them (turns out I didn't press 'update' -.-). I also think that the link to my drawing on my profile works now so you can check that out too. The chapter with the most new stuff is chapter 9 I think because I remember writing a load of stuff for that. Some chapters are no different because I had to remove them as I had over 15 documents on my profile. Feel free to read my other works as well ('Rukia's Betrayal?' and 'Without you').

Thanks for all the reads and reviews you've given

**UPDATE:** It's official, all my files were lost. I've lost everything. My work, my music, my stories and most importantly I lost my Rukia picture folder which contained a ridiculous amount of pictures and wallpapers. Now I am officially pissed off.

Signed: An incredibly angry –MaesLawliet-


	21. Shinigami again

**I'M BACK!!!! FINALLY!! After a long 2 weeks of no laptop, I finally came back. I wrote this during all the times I should have been doing homework (don't worry about the homework. I did it all anyway.)**

It was quite funny to see how the reads this story went up on the day I said my laptop broke. It went all the way to a record breaking 593 reads! :D

I am aware that this chapter is very short but I wanted to post it to show everyone that I wasn't dead. I managed to get most of the pictures and stuff I had before so it's not all bad :D

On the topic of the anime filler arc: HOLY FUUUUUUU-!!!! Muramasa! You cheeky bugger! IT WAS ALL HIS PLAN FROM THE BEGINNING!!!!! Since he says the rebellion was just a thing to waste time, HE GOT SODE NO SHIRAYUKI KILLED BECAUSE OF THAT!!!! FFFFFFFFUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RAGE!!!!!!!! Also, what's with the lack of Rukia in these episodes?! The opening and ending videos show loads of Rukia scenes so why isnt she in the actual episodes?! In an episode the other week (can't remember what one) she said ONE LINE!!! And in the current episodes, she hasnt done ANYTHING!!!! WHAT THE HELL KUBO? RUKIA IS A MAIN CHARACTER!! SHE CAN'T SIT AROUND AND DO NOTHING!!! MORE RAGE!!!!!!!!

I'll stop now... hehehehe

Enjoy the kinda short chapter

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* * *

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**Shinigami again**

As Rukia pulled the mask off of her face, everyone watched her in shock. Her hollow had said that if it pulled the mask off, Rukia would be gone forever. After pulling it off, Rukia dropped it and her sword instantly as her arms fell to her side. Her face was expressionless but her eyes were wide open. She closed her eyes and began to fall forwards. Ichigo ran forwards and caught her before she hit the ground. He noticed that there was a small smile on her face. Everything that had appeared when she turned into her hollow form began to crack. The wings crumbled and shattered on the floor while the covering on her arms and legs did the same.

Rukia anxiously waited in her inner world for her body to wake up on the outside. She didn't know what she could do to speed up the process so she just waited there. The air in her inner world seemed much more peaceful. It was back to the way it should have been with only two occupants. Trying to remember what she had done as an arrancar was useless. She wouldn't be able to find out as what had done that to her was now gone forever. All she could remember was sitting on the ground as if she was waiting for something that would never happen. She could always feel Sode no Shirayuki's presence close to her at all times but she couldn't remember seeing anything. Ichigo and Renji were also nearby at one point. She thought she had said something to them but she wasn't entirely sure. The last thing she could remember was when she told Aizen that she accepted his offer. Everything after that was blank until she felt Sode no Shirayuki helping her stand up. That was when she finally woke up from what she thought might have been a deep sleep and when she began to fight against the hollow to regain some control of her body.

On the outside, everyone was now waiting for Rukia to wake up. When she woke up would determine what would happen next. If her hollow was in control, they would be forced to kill it along with Rukia's body. If Rukia was the one who was in control, they could finally move on since Rukia would be back to normal again. Rukia slowly opened her eyes. Her right eye was now its normal violet colour. She steadily sat up and looked down at herself. Her hollow hole was gone and she noticed her mask was gone when she brought her hand up to her face. Almost everything else was the same though. The physical changes that she got when she first became an arrancar were still the same and the number three on her leg was still there. When she had looked down at herself, she felt almost completely naked. Her jacket was almost unrecognizable as only a part of it remained which just about covered her breasts (still no Rukia fan service :D). Her hakama wasn't much better as it now looked almost like a small dress with the majority of her right leg showing.

'Why are you staring at me?' She looked around, confused. 'It's me. I beat my hollow.' They were all staring intently at her, wanting to know who this really was. Not sure of why they were staring at her, Rukia tried to cover herself with her arms to make sure they weren't staring at what she thought they were staring at.

'You are Rukia, aren't you?' Ichigo said. Rukia looked up at him, still confused.

'What? Of course it's me' she said. 'I told you that I beat it. Why don't you believe me?'

'That hollow had all of Kuchiki-san's memories' Ishida said.

'We don't know who you actually are now' Renji said. It pained him to say it but he knew that it was entirely possible.

'I see…' Rukia was disappointed. It didn't matter that she was finally back to normal. She couldn't prove that she had defeated her hollow. 'At least kill me if you don't believe me.' She thought that if she died, she could perhaps make up for the things she did as an arrancar. Maybe this way, she could show how sorry she was to all of them and Sode no Shirayuki.

'Yeah, that's Rukia alright' ichigo concluded. Rukia looked up at them in surprise. Had she just proved it to them without realizing?

'The hollow wouldn't let us kill it' Renji agreed. Rukia smiled. She didn't expect them to have changed their minds so quickly.

'Wait a minute!' Ishida said in surprise. 'What if the hollow knew that Kuchiki-san would have said that?'

'If it was anything like my hollow, it would have stopped us if we tried to kill her' Ichigo assumed. It was then that he remembered something. 'Does this mean that you're a vizard now?' he asked.

'No, I don't think so.' Rukia hoped that she wasn't. 'I can't sense it in my inner world so I think it really is dead now.' Ichigo sighed in relief. He didn't want her to go through the same kind of things that his hollow did to him. The vizards were exiled from the Soul Society so Rukia would have been forced to leave despite being a noble. She actually felt a lot better now that her hollow was gone. When she was in control before, she felt like she was a completely different person. 'Shall we head back?' she asked. She stood up uneasily, almost falling over again. Renji caught her and decided to carry her as Rukia had been through a lot.

'Yeah, we still need to find Aizen and end all this' Ichigo replied. They once again set off to return to where the captains were.

* * *

I'm sure everyone is as happy as I am to be back. I expect reviews for this, people!


	22. Guilt

I still don't own Bleach or its characters. (I forgot to mention that a few times in the past)

I really felt like updating today as it's a good day for me. This day (3rd December) 2 years ago (in 2007) was when I first started watching Bleach! YAY! I remember this because my secondary school made us all do work experience. After a long, boring day at an awful job, I came home and did some of my normal stuff (homework etc.) Later that night at about 8 o clock, my brother comes up to me and says:

'You should watch this anime called Bleach. It's pretty good and you'd probably like it.'

At this point, my idea of anime was all the stuff like Pokemon and all the stuff like that. So then I thought:

'Yeah alright'

And then I started watching it. Strangely enough, I can remember my first two thoughts after a few seconds in.

Thought 1: That girl looks fit

Thought 2 (a moment later): I hope that's a girl

Of course, from the first few seconds of seeing Rukia, I couldnt really tell if she was male or female as it was mostly her sillouhette. I was relieved to find that she was indeed female. And now, 2 years later, she's still my favourite character of all time. Life is gooood :D

Anyway, it seems I'm rambling a bit. As a result of publishing today, the chapter is a bit short. Well, here it is.

* * *

**Guilt**

Rukia was still being carried by Renji on the way back to the captains. She didn't need healing again but she felt incredibly weak right now. Ichigo said that he felt the same after beating his inner hollow. Despite this feeling, Rukia still wanted to talk.

'I didn't want to help him when I woke up here' she said.

'Rukia, just rest for now' Renji said in concern. Rukia shook her head.

'No, I'm fine. I don't need to rest anymore' she lied. 'I want to tell you what happened to me. I was too weak. I couldn't get away from them even when I ran away from the fortress.'

'No one could have got away' Ichigo assured her. 'There was nowhere to go to.'

'Everything I did was just part of his plan' she continued. 'He probably even knew that this would happen. He probably even has a plan to make me go back.'

'Stop beating yourself up' Ichigo said. 'It doesn't matter what you did. The only thing that does matter is the fact that you're back to normal.' Rukia still didn't seem to listen to them and carried on.

'I don't even know what I did' she said. 'I can't remember anything. I know that I did something terrible but I can't even remember anymore.' She did have a feeling that she had done something that had helped Aizen a lot. She just knew that she did somehow but she couldn't remember what it was.

'Rukia, stop it' Ichigo said calmly. 'Nothing was your fault. From what you're saying, it sounds like you want to die right now.'

'You would have already left here by now if I did just choose to die' she said.

'Don't say that again' Ichigo said sharply which surprised everyone.

'Why not?' she replied sadly. 'I stopped you all from facing Aizen because of this. I tried to kill you. It's all just because I was so selfish on the inside.'

'If you didn't do this, you wouldn't be here now' he said.

'I'd rather die than do this to myself again!' she cried.

'I'd rather have you do that to yourself than be dead!' he responded. 'At least that way, you could have turned back to normal. Nothing would happen if you died.' Rukia stared at him in shock. She then struggled to get out of Renji's hold. He thought it would be best to let her do what she wanted for now as she was being unreasonable.

'I don't care what you wanted me to do!' she shouted at him. 'You're not me. You don't know what I would rather do. If you would rather have me become an arrancar again, why don't I just go to Aizen right now?! I regretted that choice since the day I made it. Don't you dare tell me that I shouldn't have chosen death.'

'Rukia, you know I didn't mean that' he replied.

'You just said you'd rather want me to become an arrancar than die! So if that's what you would prefer, I'll do that now.'

'Why do you want to do that again!?' he yelled

'That's... That's because...' she began.

_'Stop! 'Stop it! Please, kill me!'_

Rukia suddenly remembered what she said as she was beginning to turn into an arrancar. She fell to the floor on her knees, holding her head. Everyone ran over to her.

'No! I... I don't want to face the pain again!' she cried. 'It just keeps tormenting me... My selfishness and my betrayal... I just want to get away from them but...' she paused and looked up. 'I don't want to die' she whispered. 'I always need help. I can't do anything myself. I wanted power to overcome those things. That's what the darkness of my heart was. I thought I overcame it but now it's all the same as it was before.' She looked down at the floor again. 'So now you know the real me' she said quietly. 'I only wanted to get stronger. I didn't care for others. Every time I was kind to someone else was just a different persona that I showed.' Everyone now felt that they understood Rukia more now. She always left herself as a mystery before.

'Rukia, don't worry!' Renji tried to calm her down. 'You don't have to face it again. You were always fine before now even though you felt that way.'

'That's only what the hollow told you' Ishida said. 'It didn't know you.' Rukia shook her head.

'My hollow came from me' Rukia said. 'It only knew me. It came from my darkness when the Hōgyoku was used on me. It might as well have been me.' Ichigo listened to her while thinking of something that he couldn't answer. To answer it, he went into his inner world to ask a certain someone a few questions.

'Yo, King' his hollow said. 'Why are you here? You gettin' your ass kicked again?'

'Shut up, I don't need your help with a fight this time' he replied. 'I came to ask you something and you're the only one who can answer it.'

'Aww, ain't that nice of ya' he said. 'We might get along a little better if we keep doin' this.'

'This is the only time I'm coming here for your help in something' Ichigo stated. 'What would happen if I killed you?'

'Well, to start with, I wouldn't let ya and also you couldn't kill me if ya tried' his hollow smirked.

'Answer it properly!' Ichigo was getting annoyed. His hollow never made things easy.

'Well, ya can't kill me' he said. 'I'm part of you. So I guess you could say that we keep each other alive. I dunno. You might die or you might become a hollow like the time when I first got here. You just got lucky that time because you learnt the name of your sword before I took full control.'

'You know what's going on with Rukia, don't you?' he asked shortly after.

'Who? If you mean the girl then yeah I do know' he thought. 'I know most of the stuff you do. She ain't that bad in my opinion. You think so too, don't ya?'

'That's not the point' Ichigo replied quickly, trying to ignore his question. 'I'm the one who's asking you questions. She killed hers and she's back to normal again. Why did that happen?'

'How the hell should I know?' he replied. 'She fully became a hollow in a different way than you did and then she went a step further and became an arrancar. It probably has something to do with that. Also, she never learnt to control it so that might've made a difference.'

'Thanks, I guess' Ichigo said. 'I'll be going now.'

'Wait a minute!' he called. 'You didn't answer my question!' He left his hollow still demanding an answer to the question he asked.

'Rukia' he said calmly. Rukia and everyone else looked up at him. 'Why are you beating yourself up over this? You got rid of your hollow.'

'The hollow was me. I can't get rid of it' she said. She sounded very depressed.

'You don't know of the vizards do you?' he asked. Rukia looked at him, confused. 'They are a group of shinigami that were all at least vice captain strength who got inner hollows from Aizen's experiments. I'm the same as them although I don't like to admit it. Ever since they got inner hollows they wanted to get rid of them but they couldn't because they would die. You got rid of yours and didn't die. You got what they always wanted and you're complaining about it?! What makes you different from them? What makes you different from me? You don't know what I would do to be in your situation where you finally got rid of it.'

'Ichigo...' she whispered.

'Rukia, I'm glad that you got rid of it but you've changed yourself because you feel guilty' he told her. 'If you want to believe that you aren't the person I knew, go ahead but I know that the kind of person you talked about earlier is not you.'

'Rukia, you were nothing like that for all the time I've known you' Renji said. 'You might have kept to yourself a lot but that doesn't mean anything.'

'Th-thank you' Rukia said. 'You know that I always blame myself for everything.'

'You aren't weak, Rukia' Ichigo said. 'You even told us the darkness of your heart. Not many people could do that. You're stronger than I am.' Rukia looked up at him. 'If I ever had to fight you, you would win. You know much more than I do and always think things through. I just run in and hope any attack works. That's the difference between us.'

'Thank you, everyone.' She smiled softly. 'I... I feel...' she began. Her vision then went out of focus as she then collapsed on the floor.

'Rukia!' Renji yelled.

'It's alright. She's just sleeping' Ishida said as he noticed her slow breathing.

'She was only unconscious for a little while after beating it' Ichigo said. 'She probably wasn't feeling great since then either but she just didn't tell us. Let's just get back to the captains. She might wake up again by then.'

* * *

Yes, I am well aware that nothing really happened but I wanted to focus on how the characters feel because I felt like doing that.

Also, what a reviewer has said from the last chapter is true: This story may only be a few more chapters long ;_;

Well, you all knew it would end at some point, right? There's only so much I can do for this story right now. I've got ideas in mind for later chapters and I'll also be sad that I can't write this story anymore when it's done. I could try to extend it a bit to prevent the end from coming to soon but if I keep doing it, people may get annoyed as I guess you could end up calling it 'filler'.

Anyway, reviews are appreciated (as usual)


	23. Opening up

It's been a while hasn't it. Last update was on the 3rd and this one is on the 24th. In truth, I've just been feeling really lazy. Maybe it's because of the festive season and also probably due to the fact that I've got a load of homework to do before I go back to only thing that I have done worth noting is watch Ga Rei Zero again and made a new story. Ga Rei Zero made me cry. (Of course they were manly tears)

I have still been keeping up with the filler arc which is going to end soon. Hehe I laughed to myself when Kouga stabbed Muramasa last week but I was also like 'O.O' when he called Ginrei his father. I also really enjoyed the episode the week before that because Rukia came out of nowhere and helped out even though she didn't have Sode no Shirayuki's powers to help her. Is it me, or does anyone else think that Senbonzakura is an absolute twat? He's like Byakuya if he was really annoying because he just won't die. He should have been killed several times already. He even got a Seele Schneider shot in his face for God's sake! He's also really full of himself. Back when he did his Gokei ability on Ichigo, he was like 'Ha ha! This attack is so awesome and you will never escape!' Then, two seconds later, Ichigo gets out. Speaking of annoying characters, Haineko and Tobiume really agitate me because whenever we see them, we get 5 minutes of complete crap with them arguing about some crap that no one cares about. Also to add to the idiocy, we get Orihime. SHE HEALED THE GODDAMN BAD GUY FOR GOD'S SAKE!!! HOW STUPID CAN YOU GET?! Why couldn't Muramasa just kill her? The world would have been a much better place. Finally, the whole thing about EVERYTHING being in Karakura town is getting stale. It's the town which has the Winter War and now it has a super evil dude sealed there too. -.-

Anyway, this will probably be my last update for this story this year so I'm going to say: Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year (if I update again, you can ignore the new year part.)

* * *

**Chapter 23**

**Opening up  
**

Rukia woke up shortly before they all reunited with the captains again. Ichigo was still exhausted after his fight with Ulquiorra so he needed to have his wounds healed. Rukia explained to them how she turned back to normal which interested Kurotsuchi very much who began asking to experiment on her to gain new data. Rukia got some shinigami robes since her current outfit wasn't really what it used to be. She felt much better wearing them now even though there wasn't really a reason to. As Unohana had found out, the state of Ichigo's bankai outfit was proportional to his current reiatsu. The more intact the clothing was, the more power he had. She couldn't restore his reiatsu fully so they had to wait a while for it all to come back. Everyone was getting bored as Ichigo didn't even know how to increase the rate that he absorbed the reishi from around the area. Rukia was the only one who looked like she was doing something. She was facing away from the group, crouched down on the sand. She was suddenly brought into her inner world.

'Rukia, what's wrong?' Sode no Shirayuki asked. 'I can tell that you are worried about something.'

'It's nothing' Rukia replied. There wasn't much life in her voice. 'I know I'm not a hollow anymore but I don't feel the same way as I did before.'

'The hollow didn't change you' she told her. 'It replaced you, if anything. You couldn't control your body so nothing could be changed.'

'In the end, I just think that the hollow won' Rukia sighed. 'It might not be here anymore but I think it was still happy with what it did to me. It probably knew that I would be like this.'

'I feel that you are exaggerating what it came here to do' Sode no Shirayuki said. 'I feel that it simply came here to claim yours and my power for itself. It never had a body of its own either. I don't think that it would have thought that you would be able to defeat it. It's only intentions were to take your body and to become more powerful.'

'I just don't know anymore, Shirayuki' Rukia said. 'I don't know and I won't be able to find out.' She left her inner world after speaking, leaving Sode no Shirayuki very concerned for her owner. She was still in the same place as she was before she went into her inner world. She heard footsteps in the sand coming towards her. She made a wild guess at who it was and said something that only one of them would know what she was talking about.

'It's funny isn't it' she said before the person reached her. She still sounded slightly depressed. 'I told you to get stronger to defeat your hollow but I never knew how hard it actually was. When it happened to me, I couldn't do anything and let it control me.'

'You're not still moaning about the fact that you're normal again are you?' Ichigo asked. Rukia laughed slightly to herself as she had guessed correctly and then shook her head.

'Sode no Shirayuki wouldn't give her powers to me when I was like that' she told him. 'She said that she wouldn't give her powers to that part of me. She didn't give me her power earlier at first because of what I did back then. I wanted to fight with her again. I didn't want to be a hollow.'

'What are you doing anyway?' he asked as he walked closer to her.

'Drawing' she replied simply. Ichigo sighed. At least that would never change. She was probably still as bad as she was at it the last time he saw her drawings. He looked at what it was she had drawn. He didn't say anything about it because he didn't think it would be right to do so. She had drawn herself, in her normal style of drawing, as an arrancar. She was drawing it on the sand with her finger. It just had a mask around its eye, a hole on its stomach and her hair drawn on it.

'I draw most of the things I go through' she said. 'I just like to look back at them.' Ichigo was about to say something but she cut him off. 'They're all not very good are they' she added. He was slightly surprised to hear her say that. He thought she really thought that her drawings were good. 'I always liked drawing things but I was never good at it. When I was in the Rukongai, I used to just draw things on the ground because of all the dust. I drew things that I liked but I couldn't draw any of it right. The only thing I can actually draw is Chappy. I can't do anything else very well.' Ichigo looked down at the sand. It looked like there were drawings there but they were all covered by sand with only partial amounts of the actual drawings remaining. 'I... tried to draw it properly... without Chappy but you can see the results.'

'Why are you opening up now?' he asked. 'You never let anyone know anything about you before now.' Rukia shrugged.

'It's not a bad thing is it?' she asked. 'You knew I liked drawing anyway.'

'Yeah but I didn't know you didn't like your own drawings' he argued.

'I never said that I didn't like them' she replied. 'I just know that they aren't very good. Everyone just assumed that I liked them so I just went along with them. I'll draw it again when we get back.' At least she wasn't feeling very depressed. She seemed confident that they would return to the real world alive. 'I knew you would come to rescue me when I was taken here. At first, I thought I could become an arrancar and betray him but Sode no Shirayuki told me not to. On the day when I was supposed to make a decision, I was scared. I know that I never showed it before but I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to help him but I didn't want to die either. That's why I ran away. I didn't know why though. I knew I would be killed by the hollows faster than I would be killed in there.'

'Yeah, I know. I saw that' he said. Rukia looked at him, confused. 'It was when you tried to fight against it. Your sword showed me it.'

'I see.' She didn't know about that. Sode no Shirayuki was always kind. It made sense that she would help one of her owner's friends bring her back. 'Sode no Shirayuki helped me a lot before that happened. She told me that she didn't leave my side when I was trapped inside my inner world.'

'Yeah, she was pretty protective when me and Renji got there.'

'That's the only thing that I can remember' she said. 'The only thing I know from that time was just sitting there waiting for something that wasn't going to happen.' She paused for a while. 'I've changed a lot, haven't I? I'm not the same Rukia Kuchiki I was before.' She didn't like the answer that she always came to. In her own thoughts, she thought that she was a completely different person now. She thought that becoming an arrancar drained everything from her and filled her with something that she wasn't.

'You can't expect to stay the same forever. You've changed since I first met you, if that's what you meant.'

Rukia looked disappointed. She wanted a proper answer. She just nodded. 'What were you waiting for anyway?' she asked.

'Oh yeah, I was waiting for my reiatsu to come back. It's good enough now I think.'

'I see.' She waited for him to walk away from her a bit. 'Thank you for saving me' she said quietly. She wasn't sure if he heard her or not but she didn't care. She considered it unlike herself to say thank you to someone without being sarcastic.

'By the way' he said. 'You have changed. But not as much as you think you have. If you're fine with the way you are, then I'll be fine with that too.' He continued walking away._ 'It isn't unnatural to say thank you, you idiot' _Ichigo thought to himself. He heard her that time but didn't respond because she would most likely say that she didn't say anything and then call him an idiot.

'Thank you' she said again. She made sure that he wouldn't hear her this time.

* * *

Awww, how nice. This chapter does seem like filler, doesn't it? Well, in all honesty, it is. I'm trying to extend my original idea so the story lasts a little longer.

I would have done a part in this chapter that would have answered questions from reviews, but there werent any. Maybe I should ask more questions...

Well, that's all for this chapter.

Have a good Christmas and possibly a new year if I update before then!

-MaesLawliet-


	24. Looking back

Heres the first chapter of the new year! Yay! I've finished all my exams so I can do things again. Also today (14th January) is important as it is apparently Rukia's birthday! Yay! I've got no idea how old she is but we still have to celebrate it right? I found out that the 14th was Rukia's birthday last year shortly after the 14th so as you can imagine, I felt a bit disappointed.

Anyways, this chapter is a sort of looking back on things chapter. It mostly goes through this story again but it is completely from Rukia's point of view. I'm aware that some things in it werent mentioned during the previous parts of the story. Most of it is stuff that I thought would be good to add in or stuff that I forgot to add in when I first made it. The only reason I did this chapter in first person was so I could have a go at writing like that. I'll probably have to start doing it at some point anyway. This was originally going to be at the end where it goes over what Rukia felt but I thought, since its her birthday, I wasn't going to make her get hurt really badly or something along those lines. At the end of this story there might be another one of these types of chapters to summarise how she feels at the end.

Also, my reaction to the end of the most recent Bleach episode (253):

.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs (if the website name doesnt come up, type in youtube and add that part to the end of it)

I did not make this video.

* * *

**Chapter 24**

**Looking back  
**

Rukia sat down on the sand again, waiting for everyone else to get ready. She found herself playing with her longer strands of hair. Now that she thought about it, it might have been a hindrance before as her hair never was this long before. She made a mental note to cut it after everything was over and done with. She picked up her sword and just looked at it. She knew that Sode no Shirayuki was kind enough to let her use more of her power. She also felt stronger than she did before. She wasn't as strong as she was when she was an arrancar but she definitely felt stronger. Maybe she had ended up gaining some of her hollow's reiatsu when it died. Her thoughts then drifted back to how everything had started.

I remember being told that I could go back to the world of the living when the arrancar first started appearing. I felt slightly happy to be sent back. I wanted to see everyone again. My reiatsu had almost completely recovered so I could fight again. I think I was most likely chosen because I knew the area well. I didn't want anyone else to think that though so I tried to convince them that I was chosen because of my abilities. Going back there wasn't as good as I first thought though. Ichigo was sulking because he claimed that he couldn't protect anyone anymore. It was his inner hollow. He didn't tell anyone about it but I knew. I didn't know the full story of how it happened but I knew that it must have had something to do with Urahara. He trained Ichigo before he came to rescue me so I knew it must have happened during that time.

He was shocked to see me again. But then again, if I was him, I would be shocked to see a large part of my life standing on the windowsill of a classroom. I wanted to see how pathetic he was while like this so I dragged him over to where a hollow was. A normal hollow was having no trouble sending him flying. He was afraid to use his sword because his hollow would take over. I told him to get stronger. Get stronger so he could crush it. That was what I knew him for. Becoming stronger and overcoming all the odds. My motivational speech must have done something as he was back to his old self again in no time.

When I was told there were arrancar invading, I expected a lot of them would be roaming the town. There weren't any though. Originally I thought 'what kind of threat is this if they aren't even here?' There had only been three arrancar before this time although two of them were incredibly powerful. They must have been powerful if they forced Urahara to get up and help out for once. Shortly after my hopes of living in the closet again were crushed, arrancar finally appeared. Ichigo once again sprinted off to try to kill them before they hurt anyone but I followed him. Looking back at it now, that was the mistake that led to all this happening. I stopped him from fighting the arrancar so I could see how they fight for myself. I made short work of him which ended up drawing their leader to our loacation. I let my guard down to warn Ichigo. I don't know why I did it. I should have known that arrancar would take any opportunity to attack. My simple mistake almost cost me my life that time. I wasn't strong enough to withstand an attack like that. I didn't expect anything else to happen after that though.

When I woke up again, I wasn't where I thought I would be. It looked like I was in a jail cell. At first, I couldn't tell where I was. I didn't expect to be in Hueco Mundo. I didn't expect to be a shinigami either but, miraculously, I was the same as before. I didn't know what to think anymore. Surely after being taken to Hueco Mundo, I would have been used in some sort of experiment to turn a shinigami into a hollow. I didn't think I would have any memories either. I thought that I would have been told that shinigami were my enemies and I would have to kill them. In the end though, I was just a test subject. Aizen hadn't created an arrancar from a shinigami before but didn't want to try it on himself as there might have been some other effect. I didn't want to help him at all. He wouldn't be able to do anything to change my mind. That was what I thought at first. But that was when he told me that the Soul Society wouldn't help me.

I didn't know how to feel. I was shocked to find out that they wouldn't help. I felt betrayed but... I also felt angry. How could they just leave me here? I wasn't just a doll that could be replaced by another. I suppressed these feelings. They scared me. I didn't even think that I would have a side like that. Even if they wouldn't help me, I knew Ichigo would do anything to bring me back. He would blame himself for letting me get captured and would make a rescue attempt like last time. That seemed like what he would do. I only had a month to make a decision: aiding the enemy or certain death. If no one would help me, Aizen would assume that they don't care for me and kill me. I never stopped believing that they would come to help me.

Aizen's 'training' began to get tougher. The hollows were continuously getting stronger. As a result of underestimating their strength initially, one of them almost ripped my arm off. The wound from it kept getting worse. The next day... was, by far, the worst day of my life. The pain was unbearable so I couldn't finish off all the hollows. They saw their chance and attacked. I didn't even realise what had happened. Everything slowed down. I couldn't feel anything anymore. I simply fell into unconsciousness. When I woke up, I could tell that I had been badly hurt. Most of the right side of my head was bandaged. I didn't realise at first but, my arm was almost completely gone. I couldn't help but cry as it wouldn't simply grow back. I couldn't fight with only one arm. My strength with only my right arm was feeble. As a result, I didn't go to anymore training sessions. I just stared at the wall for days, hoping that I would be rescued. I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to be healed.

I talked to Sode no Shirayuki frequently during that time. She was the only one I could talk to who didn't want me to become an arrancar. She always supported me and gave me as much power as I could handle. But it meant nothing anymore. I couldn't fight. I once asked her if I could become an arrancar just so I could heal myself. She knew that it wouldn't work. At the very least, my mind would have been corrupted and I would have abused her power.

The next day was what changed my life forever. No matter how much I try now, I can't escape it. I don't know why such a thought occurred to me at this time. I just took Sode no Shirayuki and ran. I didn't know where I was going or why but I wouldn't accept the fact that no one had come. I knew someone had to be out there. Aizen would most likely not have told me about a rescue attempt anyway. I exerted almost all of my reiatsu. Someone would be able to sense it. All it did in the end though was attract hollows. They couldn't get to me though. I couldn't take it anymore. I was too weak to carry on. I just collapsed from fatigue. I was angry at myself. Why did I have to be so much weaker than everyone else? I could probably name about fifty shinigami straight away who were stronger than me. I realised it was all hopeless. I would die out here. I didn't want Shirayuki to die here with me. She shouldn't have even chosen me as her master. I was pathetic, meaningless compared to someone like her. It could be said that I gave up being a shinigami at that point. I didn't deserve my sword and no shinigami were going to help me.

Something inside me was telling me to betray them. They wouldn't care if someone as weak as me would leave them. Why should I give my up life for them if they didn't even care? I guess you could say that, that was the time when I began to fall into darkness. My normal self appeared to have left me. I was nothing like the person I was before. I told myself that I would become an arrancar. By the time I got back to the fortress, I think I had calmed down and actually thought about it. My normal state of mind returned. I wasn't angry at anyone. I only felt betrayed. I was on my own now. The decision that would determine life or death rested on me. No one else's opinion mattered anymore. I didn't want to die without finding the reason why they didn't help me but I didn't want to live on as an arrancar. I weighed up the points for and against each decision. Everything pointed towards becoming an arrancar. I was shaking. Either choice would have a dramatic effect. I wanted the pain of my wounds and the pain I felt from being betrayed to stop. The only way to do that was to make _that _choice. I shut my eyes tightly and... made the decision. From that point on, I knew I would regret it. In the end, the reason why I chose it was because there might have been a minuscule chance of being brought back from the darkness. But when it happened, I realised that I should have chosen to die. I didn't deserve the title of a noble anymore. I only deserved the title of 'Fallen Shinigami.'

At first I didn't think it would be too bad. There was just a peculiar feeling. It soon vanished and began causing pain that no one could withstand. I thought it was going to kill me. Aizen said that a strong mind wouldn't be affected by the hollow as much. I couldn't stand the pain. This must have meant that my mind was weak. I think I then realised why Aizen needed my consent to do this. I chose it because I was desperate, so my mind would have been all over the place and not focused. He probably did this to make sure I wouldn't emerge in control. I couldn't do anything to reverse what I had chosen to do to myself. My body began to change. I could feel the pain from my wounds fade away but the other pain wouldn't subside. I was dragged into my inner world where I saw everything was changing. I tried to call out to Shirayuki but she wouldn't listen to me and began to walk away. Looking back on it now, I can't blame her. I had betrayed her trust and showed that I cared more for power than I did for my friends. I didn't realise this at the time though. I thought she was going to leave me too. All this time, when I thought everyone betrayed me, she stood by me. She would never have left me. I couldn't bear to see her leave me. I begged for her to help me but I didn't deserve it. Before I knew that my mind would vanish, I kept repeating a single sentence in my mind, hoping that someone would hear it.

_Someone, please kill me._

I deserved nothing better than death. Asking someone to save me would be selfish. I didn't deserve a second chance. Finally, I apologised to all the people I cared about. I was then faced with the darkness of my own heart. Like almost every person, I denied it and I was attacked by it. My darkness was that I knew I couldn't get stronger and would always be weak. I needed all the protection that I got. I eventually admitted that all of it was true. There was no point in denying it if it already knew all about me. I didn't know that the darkness that I faced was combined with the hollow that would later take control of me. It told me to get rid of my weak mind so I could gain what I wanted. After I did that, the Rukia Kuchiki that everyone knew might as well have died.

I was trapped inside my own zanpakutou. No one would be able to ever find me. I was too weak to move and I could barely see or hear anything. I could feel Sode no Shirayuki's gentle reiatsu nearby me. She probably knew that the one in front of her was the kind and caring person who she knew as her owner. One of the only significant memories I have of that time was at this time.

'Shira...yuki' I remember saying. 'I... I'm sorry.' I didn't even have the strength to speak fully. All I remember from that point onwards was just sitting there. I remember sensing Ichigo and Renji at one point. I was happy to know they were there. They did come for me. But it was too late. I had already lost possession of my body. I gathered what little strength I had to at least let them know I was still alive. I was barely able to speak to them. I only told them to kill me. This meant kill me here and kill my body on the outside. While being used by a hollow, my body would attack them. Since it was using my feelings, it would be angry at them because they never came to rescue me when I needed them the most. It would kill them all as I felt a little bit jealous of the rate they all got stronger even when I still had control. This feeling was probably multiplied many times thanks to my own darkness. After they left, I kept hoping that they would kill my body if they saw it. According to Ichigo, he fought it twice.

At one point, I could tell that Shirayuki was helping me to stand up. She was contacting Ichigo. When he used my sword, Shirayuki managed to send me back to my body in the brief time that it made contact with it. I felt all of my strength return at that point. I faced the hollow that was controlling me. I didn't want to die now that everyone had come to help me. I could stop this hollow right now. I ran towards it and re-entered my body. It began fighting against me as it never wanted me to regain control. I could see everything properly now. I could see Ichigo and Orihime but it was painful to keep fighting the hollow. I once again told Ichigo to kill me as I thought I might not be able to get full control. I tried to reach Ichigo when he tried to help me but the hollow still had some degree of control and it made me get away from him. I think the hollow just let me take over briefly in the end. It probably knew that it could get back at me easily.

I finally had control over my body again. I looked down at myself as I hadn't seen my body since that day. I inspected the hollow hole on my stomach. Hollows had them because they have no hearts. That probably meant that I was no different. Sode no Shirayuki wasn't nearby. After sealing me inside my sword, the hollow probably wouldn't have wanted to keep the sword that my body had used when it was in shinigami form. Shirayuki was probably gone forever and it was my fault. I didn't have any memory of what the hollow had been doing so I wanted to find out. I didn't want to see Ichigo. I was too ashamed of myself to do so. I blamed him for not coming so I did this to myself. I should have known that he would have come for me but I only cared for my own survival. Aizen would know what the hollow had been doing. It was highly loyal to him as my darkness wanted power and he had given it what it desired.

When I found Aizen's reiatsu, I could tell Ichigo and everyone else was nearby too. I didn't want to be seen so I stealthily climbed the stairs leading to where Aizen was, still keeping out of sight. Ichigo was asking Aizen how he could bring me back to normal. Why would he want to do that? I didn't deserve that after trying to kill him. Aizen noticed I was nearby though. I couldn't bring myself to pretend that I was the hollow. He would most likely tell me to kill Ichigo. I demanded to know what he did to the way I thought back then. I would never have chosen to become an arrancar but in the end I did. He explained the painful truth to me. He prevented my friends from reaching me and tortured me with his mind games. As if that wasn't enough, he decided to put me in physical pain. ...That was why he created those hollows. They ruined my life and left my body unable to recover from the injuries. My sight would never return and an arm couldn't simply grow back. He even knew that I would run away. After finding this out, I felt pathetic. I let myself walk into his plan. Ichigo stepped up to fight him to defend me but I felt anger rising inside me. It wasn't anger from my darkness. It was coming from my normal self. I eventually got to the point where I was blinded by rage. I continuously attacked Aizen head on. I didn't give a damn about getting hurt by him. My mind was completely clouded by my desire to kill him. I didn't even hesitate to use my Resurreccion.

After using it, I felt my mind calm down. My thoughts completely changed. I didn't care about killing him. I just wanted to enjoy seeing him suffer. I began dominating the fight and had fun watching him fail to see what power I now had. It wouldn't be fun if I didn't give him a little hint but he figured it out quickly. I watched as he began to move onto the defensive. The almighty leader of the arrancar was being defensive in a fight against one of his own creations. I couldn't help but find that pitiful. He thought he could try to outwit me by moving out of my field of vision. Once again, something that he had done to me was able to stop him. My arm could withstand his attack. It could also regenerate so I didn't have to worry about it. Ichigo stepped in to stop me from carrying on. It was only at this time when I noticed that my mind was being corrupted. I tried to shake off the hollow's influence but it decided to take full control. The hollow told him that it would kill him if he stopped it from fighting. Ichigo could tell that this wasn't me. The hollow then tried to attack him but he slapped me. It hurt a lot. I could tell that he wanted me to come back. I had more of a reason to fight off this hollow now. I managed to get back in control but I didn't remember using my Resurreccion. I later found out that it was because of the hollow. Ichigo was about to face Aizen but he wasn't there. We both heard the sound of a sword piercing through flesh. I didn't realise what had happened at first. I began to feel cold and I could taste blood in my mouth. He pulled his sword out of me and I fell forwards. I didn't have the strength to hold my sword so it fell to the ground. My Resurreccion sealed itself back into my sword and all my wounds opened up again. The loss of blood made me pass out quickly. I was dying but... this was what I originally wanted.

I could tell that I wasn't dead when I was pulled into a dream. It was of that day. I was forced to relive it until I woke up again. When I woke up, Ichigo gave me Sode no Shirayuki. I was glad to know that the sword hadn't been lost forever. Everyone else was going to go back into the fortress. I didn't want to go with them just yet. I needed to talk to a few people. Sode no Shirayuki wasn't as happy to see me as I was to see her. She had a good reason though. On the inside, I wanted power despite the fact that she always helped me. I had betrayed her trust in me. She told me to overcome these feelings if I ever wanted to use her power again. Nii-sama wanted to know what had happened to me. I thought that I could make up a lie so I wouldn't cause trouble for his noble status. It didn't work though. He knew that what I said wasn't true. I told him everything. Why I was still a Kuchiki was beyond me. I've been nothing but trouble for nii-sama. I wasn't supposed to be in the family since I was from the Rukongai, I killed a vice-captain, committed a crime that held the penalty of death and now I had become an arrancar. He still didn't want to let Hisana down.

Afterwards, I called Inoue over. I didn't want this arm. She would be able to restore it to the way it was before. I had to cut this arm off. It was painful but I eventually did it and she then restored my arm. I decided to follow Ichigo and the others into the fortress on my own. I was still an arrancar but it actually helped me here. I wouldn't be attacked by any others hopefully. I was doing fine until the big oaf Yammy stopped me. I could have defeated him easily but I didn't have that much time. My espada rank was much higher than his. He knew that I was helping Ichigo and the others now so he attacked me. I didn't know about his Resurreccion. He was stronger than me.

I struggled in the fight against him. At that point, I couldn't do anything to increase my strength. I no longer had the sword I got as an arrancar and Sode no Shirayuki wouldn't help me. I couldn't hurt him at all. He was just overwhelming me with his immense strength. I begged Sode no Shirayuki to help me. As he was about to kill me, she gave me her power. With her power, I could fight him. I was able to cut off his hand but by that time I was badly hurt. Once again he tried to kill me but this time it would definitely succeed. I thought that until I felt something inside me. I was scared because I knew what it was. I tried to fight it but eventually my hollow took over. I kept trying to fight it but I realised that I wouldn't be able to kill Yammy. My hollow would have to do it. It was able to kill him but it wouldn't give up the control that it had over my body. Shirayuki was going to help me again so I told the hollow that I would fight it. I would have to get rid of it for good otherwise I would never be able to control it.

It was able to push me back considerably. It was stronger than me and both of us knew it. I was able to hold it back for a while but, inevitably, it easily managed to beat me. I was unable to move as all my strength was gone. It was going to take over my body forever and since I had used my shikai earlier, Shirayuki would be forced to give her power to it. I knew my body was turning into a hollow on the outside but I couldn't do anything about it. I had let Shirayuki down. She probably thought that I would be able to get rid of this hollow. My thoughts drifted back to when I first met her. I remembered what I promised her. I promised to take care of her and I wouldn't let anyone take her away. I didn't want to lose now. Everyone else wanted me to turn back to normal too. This would be my only chance to do so. Sode no Shirayuki gave me more of her power to use and I was eventually able to pin down the hollow. It said that I was the same as it was. It came from me which meant that it was a part of me. I didn't care. It was probably just a trick so it would be able to live. It said it returned my true feelings to me but I didn't even notice them. I had overcome them now. I killed it soon after. Before it died, it asked me if I enjoyed those powers. I was never able to use them to their full extent so I couldn't really tell if I did enjoy them. All that mattered was that I could get back to my body.

The hollow was about to pull my mask off. I finished what it had started. I suddenly lost the energy needed to remain standing. I fell forwards knowing that I was finally free from that nightmare. I was unconscious for a while so I didn't know what was going on outside. I woke up again and finally confirmed that I was a shinigami once again. No one believed that I was myself and not my hollow though. I thought I should at least make up for everything by dying. Somehow, that was what convinced them. I was glad that they believed me but I felt different to how I did before. I was depressed. I undid what I did to myself but I couldn't undo what I had done to everything else. I reflected on what my hollow said to me.

_The hollow that came from the Hōgyoku drew out your darkness and merged with it. That is what I am. I am a part of you._

I denied it at the time but it was telling the truth. It was a part of me. I might as well have done everything that it had done using my body. I was being unreasonable to everyone else and I knew it. They knew what I was feeling right now and tried to talk me out of it. I didn't listen to them and denied all of what they said. Ichigo basically told me that I was being stupid and also told me about the vizards. If I didn't kill my hollow, I would be one of them. I was being stupid though. I didn't even consider what everyone else thought. I only cared for what I was thinking. That's what my hollow would have done too. We were the same. It didn't matter that it wasn't there anymore. It was just a manifestation of my feelings on the inside. I couldn't change that. I couldn't change those feelings on the inside. Once again, everyone had saved me from myself.

I still wasn't feeling like myself though. I had changed. No matter how I looked at it, I was almost entirely different. I just couldn't find a way to change myself back to how I was before. I wanted to die for almost all the time I had been here. I barely had any reason to live anymore. This whole experience changed my outlook on everything. I couldn't find a reason to be cheer up. What was there to be happy about? Sode no Shirayuki talked to me. What she said made sense but it didn't make me feel any different. Ichigo talked to me a little while after. He didn't say whether I had changed or not at first but he did eventually answer it. He said I had changed but it was only due to time moving on. I would have changed with time whether I liked it or not. I just watched as he walked away. I silently thanked him for all he did for me.

'Oi, Rukia' someone called. 'You coming or not?' I smiled to myself and stood up. It was about time we left. If it were me, I would have recovered that reiatsu much faster. Well, he did say that I was stronger than him after all. 'You looked like you were thinking about something for ages. What could have taken that long to think about?'

'I just went over a few things' I replied as we once again set off into the fortress where, undoubtedly, something else would happen.

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Well that was my longest chapter yet. I didnt think my chapters would ever be this long. Oh well.

I imagine that by now, you're all getting annoyed with my 'filler chapters'. I liked this chapter. I thought I did good on it but I think I've filled it out enough for now (the anime doesnt seem to think that when they do their filler arcs). So in the next chapter, I promise to make some actual plot development.

If you get to this point, it's reviewing time!


	25. This chapter actually advances the plot

Hey everybody! I told you that I was working on chapters that advance the plot and here it is! :D

Let's see, this is the part where I talk to my loyal readers about things. An odd point of my week was when I watched the movie of the game Animal Crossing. If you know of the game, you'll be just as confused as I was to hear that there is a movie of it. Oddly enough, Fumiko Orikasa (Rukia's voice actor) was in it. Overall it wasnt a particularly brilliant movie.

On to the topic of the recent Bleach episode (episode 254), I thought it was getting a bit stupid because even though most of the shinigami and zanpakutou came to help, most of them didnt do a lot. The ones who didn't do a lot were: Izuru, Wabisuke, Yumichika, Matsumoto, Hinamori, Oomaeda, Gegetsuburi, Suzumebachi, Haineko, Tobiume (who only did some arguing and killed about one menos each) and even Rukia didnt do anything ;_;. Also, I know he's the main character but having Ichigo do _everything_ is starting to get a little tiresome. His battle strategy is getting boring too. Has anyone noticed that it consists of: Bankai followed by GetsugaTenshou!GetsugaTenshou!GetsugaTenshou!GetsugaTenshou! and if that doesnt work: Hollow mask then repeating the same strategy. Not to sound like a whining Rukia fan here but, why does she never do anything in filler arcs? She fights once and then they decide to kill her off for the rest of the arc.

I think I've ranted enough so now you can get on with the chapter.

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**Chapter 25**

**The first chapter that I've done for a while that isn't filler and actualy advances the plot  
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As they set off into Las Noches again, they were all glad to have Rukia back on their side again but they still knew that they would have to be more careful than ever. Aizen would most likely go all out against them now. There were only a few espada left but two of them held the highest ranks. The captains had stayed behind to help Kurotsuchi who was researching how the garganta worked so they could get back whenever they wanted. No one knew what Aizen was planning now. He had taken Rukia so she could become an arrancar but he didn't seem at all worried after she was able to recover. He had even stabbed her in an attempt to kill her so whatever plan he had made that included Rukia didn't seem to make any difference.

_Meanwhile..._

Aizen had called all of his remaining espada into a meeting to check on their numbers and review his plan depending on how many were left.

'So this is all that is left of my espada. Six have been killed and the other has left us' Aizen commented as he looked around the room. There were only three of them. 'No matter, we will just have to make do with what is left.'

'What're ya thinking of doin' now?' Ichimaru asked.

'Patience Gin' he responded. 'A powerful plan is one that has been thought out thoroughly. This plan isn't meant to succeed. It is just to keep them occupied. Grimmjow, I hope you don't mind but I'm going to need you to do something for me.' Grimmjow was still alive as Ichigo had let him live. Nnoitra's attack didn't quite finish him off either. He still didn't like taking orders though. 'Baraggan, I would like you to go with him to make sure this operates smoothly.' As the two espada left, Aizen continued to go over his plan, making sure it would work exactly how he planned it.

_Back with Ichigo and everyone else..._

There weren't any arrancar around in the corridors. Maybe they were just disposed of as they were too weak. They weren't even close to matching the strength of Ichigo and the others. Rukia kept getting a feeling that she had done something as an arrancar that benefitted Aizen greatly. She had had this feeling for some time now but she just couldn't remember it. As she was no longer an arrancar she felt she would never know. They all stopped as they sensed something up ahead. Grimmjow stood before them, alone.

'Grimmjow, I'm not going to fight you again' Ichigo told him. He was sure that Grimmjow just wanted to settle the score with him. 'You can't defeat me.'

'Na, this time I ain't here to fight any of you' he said. 'I just came to collect her.' He pointed at Rukia.

'Why the hell do you need Rukia again?!' Ichigo demanded to know.

'Aizen's orders' Grimmjow shrugged. 'Can't really argue with 'em, can I?'

'Aizen wants to see me?' Rukia asked. 'Just go back and tell him that I'm not co-operating with him anymore. Anyway, do I even look like an arrancar to you or do you need Aizen to verify it for you?' Grimmjow scowled. He knew she was mocking him.

'That damn attitude of yours pisses me off, you little bitch' he said. 'Remember how easily I was able to smack you around before? I could tell you were shit scared of me even though you pretended act all calm.' Rukia smirked.

'Rukia' Ichigo looked at her in concern. 'What did he do to you?'

'Don't worry about it' she told him. 'It's just as he said. We couldn't get along very well when I was first brought here.' She turned back to Grimmjow. 'If I remember correctly, I was a higher rank than you' she recalled. 'If a hollow was using my feelings, I'm pretty sure that it would have 'smacked you around' a little.' Grimmjow gritted his teeth. As an arrancar, she taunted him and punched him in the stomach just to show off her new strength. He rushed forward to attack her with his sword already drawn. There was no way he would let her say that she was stronger than him. Rukia had already anticipated this though so she was able to block it.

'Rukia!' Ichigo said. He wasn't sure if she would be able to handle him right now.

'I'm fine' she forced the words out just as she pushed Grimmjow back. Not willing to give in, Grimmjow attacked again. Since Rukia realised that Grimmjow's strength was with a sword and her own strength wasn't, she would have to think of something. Rukia lowered herself so she went under his attack and slashed straight up at him. He grabbed her sword with his remaining hand before she cut him.

'You couldn't do anything to me even when I only had one arm' he taunted. 'Do you even think you can beat me? Only he can do that by pure luck.' He gestured to Ichigo.

'I panicked at that time' Rukia admitted. She wasn't sure what to do back then as she had only just woken up to find herself in the enemy stronghold. 'I didn't have my sword either. But this time... it will work.' She mirrored what she did back then and put her palm parallel to his chest. 'Hadou no san-jyuu-san! Soukatsui!' He was too close to move back. He couldn't stop her like he did last time as one hand was holding his sword and his other hand was holding her sword. He could either let go of her sword to escape or take the hit. But if he let go of her sword she would cut him and then hit him as he would still be close to her. Even though he didn't want to, he would have to take the single hit from the kidou instead of a double hit from her sword and the kidou combined. It was a rather large mistake though. He didn't know that her kidou was much better than her skills with a sword.

The kidou slammed into him at point blank range. It must have done some considerable damage. When all the smoke cleared, Grimmjow was breathing heavily and was wounded slightly.

'Damn you, you little bitch' he snarled. 'You would be dead if you didn't use that damn spell. It pisses me off.' He charged a cero to use his equivalent of her kidou.

'My kidou isn't limited to one spell' Rukia told him. 'Bakudou no kyuu...' She drew a symbol in front of her before saying the name of the spell. 'Geki!' The symbol glowed red and then engulfed Grimmjow in red light. He was completely paralyzed. He couldn't concentrate any more energy on the cero so it shrank and then faded.

'Damn it!' he growled. He couldn't get out. 'How can she be this much stronger?!' he thought.

'My strength is with kidou, not with a sword' she said. 'You may be stronger than me physically but I have a greater understanding of strategy. I can tell how you fight.' She held her hands out in front of her. 'You said that Soukatsui 'pissed you off' didn't you?' she said calmly. 'Then, what about this variation? Hadou no roku-jyuu-san...' A great amount of energy focused at her hands. _'I feel that I can do this without the incantation' _she thought. _'Is this because I got stronger when I became an arrancar?' _Everyone watched as she looked like she was about to finish him off. 'Souren Soukatsui!' She released the energy straight towards him. There was no mistaking the fact that it hit him. The only question that remained was: was he alive? Rukia was fairly sure that he was. If she had used the incantation, it would most likely have killed him. Its power was weakened because she didn't use it. Although she managed to use it without the incantation, she was noticeably tired out by it. She wouldn't be able to continue like this.

It turned out that he was still alive but now he was heavily wounded. He placed his hand over his sword in rage. He was going to use his Resurreccion. He was interrupted by the arrival of someone else.

'What's taking so long, Grimmjow?' a gruff voice said. Baraggan stepped in from behind them. 'It seemed like such a simple request so I thought I wouldn't have to get involved. You were told to bring her back and here I find you fighting a losing battle.'

'Who's this old guy?' Renji asked. 'Another espada? Are you here to help him?'

'Don't group me with the likes him' Baraggan said angrily. 'I don't have the time for any of you ants. I'm just here to make sure that everything goes according to plan.' Rukia saw that Ichigo was going to try to fight him.

'Ichigo, don't fight him' Rukia warned him. 'I can tell that he's very powerful. I think he is a higher rank than I was before.'

Ichigo seemed to ignore her. 'I'll show you, old man!' he yelled as he was about to reach for his sword. Something surprised him as he was moving very slowly. 'What the-? I can barely move.' Everyone but Rukia also felt the same. They thought they would be moving quickly but everything seemed to be slowing down.

'That is my power. The time space around you has been dilated so you can do nothing' Baraggan explained. 'Unless you want to see them rot and turn to dust before you, I advise you to comply' he said to Rukia. He drew a large battle axe with a blade that was the size of his body and held it in front of Ichigo and the others. Grimmjow also stood there with his sword drawn. Rukia didn't know what she should do. If she did nothing, they would be killed and then she would be taken to Aizen anyway but if she went with them Aizen would be able to carry on with his plans. Both choices would end up with similar outcomes. She couldn't fight them either. She wasnt nearly strong enough and she would be at a disadvantage as there were two of them and they had all of her friends as hostages that could be killed at any time.

'I... I don't want to let you die' Rukia said. 'If you die because of me, I won't be able to forgive myself. I wouldn't be able to live with what I had done.'

'Rukia! Don't listen to him!' Ichigo yelled to her. 'You know what Aizen wants to do to you again!'

'Keep silent, ant, or you will be the first to die' Baraggan said to him.

'Damn you!' Ichigo kept trying to get out of the slowed down time area.

'Ichigo, stop!' Rukia pleaded. 'Leave them alone. They don't have anything to do with what you want.'

'Rukia, don't go back there' Ichigo said to her. Grimmjow moved his blade closer to Ichigo's head.

'Yeah, don't go back so you can watch as I finally kill him' he sneered. 'Then I can kill you as well.'

'You bastard' Ichigo scowled.

'I-I'll go with you' Rukia finally gave in. She wouldn't be able to bear the guilt if her choice got her friends killed. 'I'm sorry. I don't want you to get hurt because of one of my choices again. If it stops you all from being killed, I'll do what they want for now. I don't want to go but I don't have any other choice.' She walked over to where both espada were standing. 'I'm sorry' she said again before she was taken away by the two espada.

'Damn it!' Ichigo shouted. They could all move at normal speed now. 'What the hell does he want with her now?'

'Calm down' Uryu said. 'We might be able to find Aizen quickly. Inoue said that he was usually always at that place.'

'He probably won't be there now though' Renji thought. 'He knows that we know he was there. He could be anywhere in this place.' They all hurried off to the place where he was before. It was highly unlikely that he would be there but it couldn't hurt to look. If he needed Rukia again, his plan involving her must still be in motion.

_Sometime later..._

They were met with the familiar tall staircase from before that led up to where they were heading.

'Shit, where the hell is he?' Ichigo looked around. Aizen was nowhere to be seen. They had managed to reach the place where Aizen was before with relative ease but it took quite a while to get there. The place was exactly the same as how it was before. There was just an indent in the ground where Rukia was when she used her Resurreccion.

'I told you he wouldn't still be here' Renji said to Uryu.

'Well we wouldn't have known until we looked here would we' he replied.

'Damn you Aizen' Ichigo thought. 'Why do you need Rukia? It's me you're after.' He clenched his fists. 'I swear I'll kill you the next time I see you for what you've done.' They needed to find where he was keeping Rukia quickly. Rukia only became an arrancar last time because it appeared as if they took too long to get there. Aizen would most likely try to continue his plans as quickly as possible.

They had to go back the way they came. They had no idea where Aizen could be but surely he would have to be somewhere around this area. This place seemed like his base of operations so he was probably close by. Just as they headed back though, a single arrancar stood before them. They hadn't seen this one before but something seemed familiar about this particular arrancar.

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I don't really think I need to say anything here, so do whatever you want.

'til next time!


	26. Back to Square One

It's been a while since I updated anything. Mostly because I've had a load of work to do etc.

Anyway, today is Wednesday so we get a new Bleach episode :D. Another episode, another filler was what I thought but after I saw it I was shcoked to see how big Rukia's role was. She even fought an enemy and her fight wasnt overdone at all. (By 'overdone' i mean: usually when Rukia fights, they make her do too much and as a result, she doesnt do anything for about 50 episodes.) I thought 'Wow these producers have finally done what Rukia fans have wanted for ages: an episode where she is the main character. Also, Orihime wasnt in it so I was happy :P. It was quite funny to see at the party, Rukia, Hitsugaya and Sode no Shirayuki were the only ones who didnt get completely wasted. Even Senbonzakura was pretty 'out of it.' On a serious note, it was nice to see Rukia and Sode no Shirayuki talking with each other like that and was awesome to see them fight together like that :D. Moving on a little bit, I found the new ending theme a bit bad. I didnt really like the song and the video for it wasnt particularly good. Because of all the cherry blossoms, the characters could _barely_ be seen. Overall, this arc looks alright so far. I would like to see where it ends up.

Anyways, enough of my rambling. Read the chapter!  
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**Back to square one**

Rukia had been taken back to where Aizen was now. She felt that she had no choice but to go along with them. She didn't want her friends to be killed in front of her. She thought that if they were coming to rescue her, she would have to allow them some time to get to her. They wouldn't have known where Aizen would have been.

'It is about time you returned, Kuchiki Rukia' Aizen greeted her. 'However, I didn't expect you to return here in that form.'

'What do you want now, Aizen?' Rukia asked simply. 'You should have known that I wouldn't have wanted to come back.'

'I still want what I wanted when I first talked to you here' he stated. 'I still seek the King's Key.'

'You'll never get it' Rukia said to him. 'Everyone from the Soul Society is against you. They'll stop you as soon as you go into Karakura town.'

'It is interesting that you brought that up' he commented. 'I'm sorry to disappoint you but that last part will not happen. I will get to Karakura town uninterrupted.'

'That's impossible' Rukia remarked. 'Everyone at the Soul Society will know when you get there.'

'It doesn't matter if they know I'm there' he said calmly. 'What matters is they will have to watch as they cannot do anything to stop me.'

'What have you done?' Rukia asked darkly.

'It isn't what I have done' he began. 'It is what you have done. One of your actions has kept them exactly where they are.'

'I would never do something like that!' she exclaimed. 'Moreover, I haven't done anything like that.'

'Your reaction is perfectly understandable' he said. 'It is clear that you can't remember doing this action.' What he had just said shocked Rukia.

'Can't... remember?' she said slowly. 'What did you make me do?!' This was the thing that was bothering her all this time. She knew her hollow had done something like this that would help him.

'It seems to have slipped my mind right now' Aizen smirked.

'Tell me! NOW!' she demanded.

'I may remember if I see the lifeless body of Kurosaki Ichigo delivered to me by you personally.' Rukia was shocked.

'No, I would never kill any of my friends' Rukia said. She didn't care what she had done. There was no way for her to bring herself to kill them. She would be able to find out eventually on her own.

'You had no trouble attempting to do so not too long ago' Aizen stated.

'I'll never betray them like that again' she told him. 'And that wasn't even me at that time. If that's all you wanted to see me about, I might as well go back. You should have known my answer to that question before you brought me here.' She turned and was about to leave but she soon found that a sword was just above her shoulder with its blade pointing at her neck.

'I'm afraid that you do not understand' Aizen said calmly. 'I'm not giving you a choice now.' Rukia turned around and faced him again.

'I'm not giving you any other answer' she replied.

'That is unfortunate' he stated. 'After all, I know something that you might want.' He showed her the Hougyoku.

'What makes you think that I'll want to become an arrancar again?' she asked. 'I'm not going to do what I did last time.'

'You are misunderstanding me again. Perform this task for me, and it will be yours.' Rukia was shocked. He would give her the Hougyoku if she did it? She had no intention of helping him again, but giving her the Hougyoku was a bit extreme wasn't it?

'Why- Why would you give me that?' She wouldn't believe that he would just give it to her if she co-operated even though she wouldn't go along with it anyway. 'You need it don't you?'

'I already have many arrancar' he began. 'Once you kill him, I won't need to make any more. One thing that I have noticed is that it has some of your reiatsu inside it.' Rukia looked at him and then at the Hougyoku curiously. 'This is due to the fact that it was inside you for quite some time. It slowly absorbed your reiatsu which is inside it now. You may have noticed that you became a highly ranked espada even though you didn't become a menos class hollow. I can only assume that this means that it is highly compatible with you because of your reiatsu.'

Rukia thought to herself. _'Is that why I feel stronger? Did it end up giving me some of the reiatsu that it absorbed from me? With that, I might be able to recover the reiatsu that I lost back then. But that would mean... No, I won't betray my friends again. I'll never make that mistake again. He can offer me whatever he wants. I won't help him anyway.'_

'You want your reiatsu back, don't you?' Aizen asked. 'You can have it back and gain much more. You miss that power you gained before don't you?' He moved his sword down so it pointed at her heart. 'Your heart desires power and you cannot deny it.'

'You're right' Rukia admitted. 'That's what I want on the inside. But that's not how I want to get it. You can't tempt me with that any more. I know that my friends are here to help me.' Rukia paused for a minute. 'You could turn me into an arrancar again if you really want' she began. 'I wouldn't have any objections. If anything, it would work against you. I would be much more powerful and I have overcome the darkness of my heart. I would be in control when it's over anyway. You said told everyone that they were all trapped here earlier didn't you? If I became an arrancar that would no longer be a problem. I would be able to make a garganta and get everyone out of here and into the real world. So, by all means, turn me into an arrancar. I'm not scared.' Aizen smirked.

'I don't need to have you kill him anyway' Aizen explained. 'You will work just as well as a hostage. If I kill you in front of him, he will be overcome by rage and he will be killed easily. I hope that you won't attempt to escape this time. Unlike last time, I will kill you if you make the wrong choices.'

'Will I be staying in a room again or will I be under your constant supervision?' Rukia simply wondered where she will be placed this time. It wouldn't matter where she was anyway. She would probably be supervised almost constantly even if she was in a room.

'Gin will be taking care of you this time' Aizen replied. Ichimaru walked in.

'It's been a while, hasn't it Rukia-chan' he said with his usual grin. Rukia scowled. Despite all that she had been through, she still couldn't stand this man. Aizen probably arranged this to make her miserable. 'Yer not going to tell me that ya still don't like me are ya?' he said, replacing his grin with a somewhat disappointed face.

'I never liked you, Ichimaru' she said bluntly. 'I don't think I ever told you, but you're the most despicable man that I have ever met.' She turned and walked away. If no one followed her, she could escape but she didn't think that would work anyway.

'Shouldn't you follow her, Gin?' Aizen asked. It wasn't really a question. It was more of an order.

'Hmm? Oh yes, of course' he said. 'My thoughts were elsewhere. Anything I need to know?'

'Just make sure she stays alive' Aizen told him. 'You simply need to wear down her resistance. She feels stronger than before but she is deluding herself. Deep down, she is exactly the same as she was before. That's why I chose you for this. You can instil fear in others easily especially her. It shouldn't take you long before you can reduce her to what she was like before.'

'When ya say it like that, it makes me feel a little bad on the inside' he grinned. He walked off to catch up to Rukia.

'Before you leave' Aizen said which stopped him. 'Something has crossed my mind. Bring her to a room so that I can test my theory. I am interested to see the results.' After Ichimaru left, Aizen continued thinking to himself. 'I must thank you for your assistance, Kuchiki Rukia. After all, my plan is almost complete because of you. You may find out what it was that you did but by that time it will be too late.'

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It was a bit short but it's still a chapter. I was happy to see the amount of reviews for the last chapter (there was 8 i think). It doesnt seem like much but to be honest, I would be happy with 5 reviews per chapter. So far (up to chapter 25) I have 125 reviews. Thats the exact amount i would have if i had 5 reviews per chapter :D (5x25=125 I know my maths :P).

Well thats it for this chapter.

'til next time


	27. The Mysterious Arrancar

Hi again everyone~! This is the next chapter. My little talks to you all will be short and sweet this time.

I uploaded this today because I'm not going to be here next week as I will be going to New York for a week :D. This means: no new chapters for anything fo a little while because I obviously can't upload things while I'm there. This will be my first time going to America so I hope it will be really good :P.  
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**Chapter 28**

**The Mysterious Arrancar**

_In a dark room, deep inside the fortress, there was a large flash. There was someone inside this room. Shortly after the flash of light, this person opened their eyes. One was golden coloured while the other was partially covered by hair. _

'_It's... time to go now' the person said to themselves. They stood up shakily and left the room._

Back with Ichigo and the others, they found it strange that this arrancar was standing in front of them. This one was female. She had long, straight black hair and violet coloured eyes that were similar to Rukia's. Her mask looked like the beginning of a pair of glasses with one part going over her ear and the other part sitting under her eye. Something didn't seem right though. This arrancar felt very familiar even though none of them had seen her before. Their first thought was that this was Rukia because of some small similarities. What was also strange was the fact that she didn't seem very strong either. Compared to most other arrancar, her reiatsu was quite feeble.

'Umm, can I ask you something?' she said. They could tell that it wasn't Rukia now. The arrancars voice was too different.

'We don't have time for you, arrancar' Renji said. Knowing that it wasn't Rukia, they could move on.

'You think you can stop us by yourself?' Ichigo said angrily.

'No, wait a minute!' she tried to stop them. 'Are you called Ichigo? Rukia-san sent me to find her friends. She said one of them had strange hair and was called Ichigo.' They stopped after hearing what she said. They all turned around to talk to each other.

'Does she even know anything?' Ichigo asked the group. 'She's an arrancar so surely she should be trying to kill us.'

'It doesn't seem like it' Uryu replied. 'Maybe she doesn't know who we actually are.'

'She seems like she knows Kuchiki-san' Chad said. 'She might be able to lead us to where she is.'

'Can we actually trust her though?' Renji said. 'She might just be pretending to act like this so Aizen can ambush us.'

'Maybe she's just supposed to be like a maid or something for Rukia' Ichigo told them. They turned back to her. 'Just tell us if you actually know where Rukia is.'

She nodded. 'I know where she is' she began. 'She said she was being held as a hostage. I was-'

'Yeah yeah, we'll worry about your life story later' Ichigo dismissed what she was saying despite the fact that it seemed quite important. 'If you're lying to us, I won't hesitate to kill you. I'm not really in a good mood right now.'

'I'm not going to betray you' she said. 'Rukia-san wanted me to help her. She was sure that you would believe me.'

'Rukia trusted you that much?' Ichigo was confused. Why would Rukia trust an arrancar that she had probably only just met? Rukia didn't have any Fraccion as an arrancar so it wasn't possible for her to have known her. Also, it was unlikely that she was a Fraccion anyway as she appeared to be very weak. The arrancar girl nodded and began showing them the way to where Rukia was.

'My name is Sayumi' she said. No one had said anything so she was probably just trying to start a conversation. Everyone looked at each other confused.

'Sayumi?' they all thought. It sounded nothing like an arrancar name. It just sounded like a name that a human would have.

'What kind of name for an arrancar is that?' Renji asked.

'I didn't know my name' Sayumi said. 'I don't even know if I had one. That's why Rukia-san named me. She was very kind to me even though I had only just met her.'

The single question 'why would she do that?' was in all of their minds right now but they decided not to ask as they thought that it might just have been because Rukia took pity on her. They were all still unsure if they could trust this arrancar. She might have just been made up all of what she was saying so she could bring them all to Aizen. They didn't have much of a choice though. She was going to take them somewhere anyway. There was something about her though that reminded them of Rukia. They all thought that it might have just been that her eyes were the same colour and thought nothing more of it.

'I don't know if any arrancar will attack us' Sayumi said. 'When I was looking for you, they didn't but they might do if they see you.'

'Of course they'll attack us' Ichigo said. 'More importantly, why aren't you attacking us and why does Rukia seem to trust you so much?'

'Well, that's because...' she wasn't sure how to tell them the answer.

'Over here!' someone said. 'It's them!' An arrancar called over several more to attack them.

'Damn it!' Ichigo cursed. 'If this is your fault, I'm going to kick the crap out of you later' he said to Sayumi. There weren't many arrancar and they weren't particularly strong either so they made short work of them. The whole time though, Sayumi didn't fight any of them. She had a sword but she didn't use it at all.

'Why didn't you fight any of them?' Renji asked. 'You've got a sword haven't you? Use it.'

'I-I don't know how to fight' she admitted. 'I've never used this sword. I just had it when I was created.' That seemed to answer what they were thinking earlier. There was no doubt that she was just a maid or something like that for Rukia.

It did take a while but Sayumi eventually brought them to a room.

'Rukia-san was in here' Sayumi opened the door slowly to see if anyone was in there apart from Rukia. She was shocked to see that it wasn't Rukia who was in there. It was Ichimaru. He shot his zanpakutou straight at her. She was barely able to move out of the way.

'Rukia-chan was kind enough to tell us that you were lookin' for her friends' he said as he walked out of the room. 'Ya weren't really strong when you were created so we don't have any need for ya.'

'Bastard! What did you do with Rukia?!' Ichigo demanded. He could tell that Sayumi was really trying to help them all along. She was almost killed by one of Aizen's subordinates.

'Rukia-chan decided to go along with what we wanted her to do' Ichimaru told them. 'It seems that she hadn't changed at all. She still wanted more power.'

'What have you done with her?!' Ichigo said again. Ichimaru simply widened his smile a little more.

'You don't have to tell him anything else, Gin' Aizen's voice said. 'It will ruin the surprise later.' He smirked.

'What did you do to Rukia-san?' Sayumi asked him. She knew Rukia wouldn't have done anything like what they were saying she did. 'She wouldn't betray her friends like that.'

'A worthless creation like you shouldn't be here' Aizen turned to Sayumi. 'You were only created because of one of my theories. I must say that you were a rather disappointing result. A disappointing result shouldn't exist now.' He focused some of his immense reiatsu on her. He had no problems about killing her. Sayumi immediately fell to her knees. She cried out in agony. His reiatsu was crushing her similar to the way that someone would step on a small insect. She wouldn't survive for very long like this.

'Getsuga Tenshou!' Ichigo yelled. He swung his sword across and launched his attack straight at Aizen. He easily moved out of the way with his shunpou. Sayumi was finally able to breathe again.

'Does the life of a single arrancar matter to you, Kurosaki Ichigo?' Aizen asked.

'Normally it wouldn't matter to me but when you just try to discard her like that, I can't just watch as you do that' he said. 'Besides, Rukia trusted her so I'm going to as well.'

Aizen smirked again. 'If you knew as much as I do now, you would know that she didn't care for her either. It is evident that she just wanted her to bring you all here so she could settle something with you.'

Ichigo's eyes widened. 'No... You didn't...' He had a feeling of what he had done.

'I think you'll find that I did nothing' he said. 'She was the only one involved in this.'

'That's a load of crap!' Ichigo yelled.

'He's telling the truth, Ichigo' a familiar voice said. Everyone froze after hearing it. A new person came into the area. 'I did this to myself and I don't feel bad about it either.' Rukia walked closer so that she was in view. She was still wearing her shinigami robes which seemed to be a good sign. It seemed like a good sign but it really wasn't. She held two swords. One was Sode no Shirayuki while the other was an arrancar's sword. Once again, her face had a mask just around her eye, similar to the way it was before. She had become an arrancar once more.

* * *

O.O That ending! Rukia, why!!?? Obviously, I know because I'm the one writing this story. :P

'Til next time


	28. Settling the score

Hi everyone~!

I'm back from my little holiday/vacation whatever you want to call it. It was really awesome. America = Pro. I got back last week but I obviously needed time to write this chapter.

On a little college related note, I've had a ton of homework recently and I get the feeling that I'm going to get more. -.- I'm not really a homework person as I always leave it until the last minute. I'm also going to have to do revision for things too so chapter updates will be irregular from now on.

On the topic of the current filler arc (the sword fiends), what does everyone think about it? Personally, I think that it's pretty bad. The first episode of it (the one with Rukia in it) was good but since then, it's gotten really bad (partially to do with the lack of Rukia). The story seems a bit all over the place at the minute. All they're doing is making random situations with a sword fiend involved and adding a random mix of characters into the episode.

Enough of my ranting, chapter time!

Oh yeah, I don't own the characters. Except for Sayumi :D.

* * *

**Settling the score**

'She is a rather interesting shinigami isn't she' Aizen commented. 'Her loyalty changes depending on which side benefits her the most. Joining me results in her gaining more power whereas she gains nothing from being with you.'

Why Rukia had done this to herself again was the question going around in all of their heads right now. Aizen said she did it for power but that was most likely untrue. They couldn't think of any other reasons why she would do it though. They couldn't help but notice that the mask around her eye was exactly the same as it was before but this time, the eye that it was around was a golden colour like a hollow's would be.

'Rukia' Ichigo finally said. 'Why?' Those were the only words that he could say right now. Was she really too far gone for them to save now? She had fallen into darkness the first time because of her feelings on the inside. She said that she had overcome them didn't she? Maybe all that happened was that they helped her the first time but she then decided that she wanted those powers again because she thought she could control them.

'You wouldn't understand' she replied. 'None of you have experienced the power received from doing this.'

'That doesn't mean anything!' he yelled to her. 'Rukia, you said you'd rather die than go through it again.'

Rukia simply looked around the room, not paying much attention. 'You do realise, don't you?' she asked them. 'I'm not the Rukia you all know. I'm just the hollow of her.'

'You're a different hollow from last time aren't you?' Renji asked. This hollow was different from what they had seen so far. This hollow referred to itself as a hollow. The other one insisted that it was Rukia.

'That's right' she said. 'The other hollow was killed and it won't be coming back as far as I know. It won't mysteriously appear from being dead.'

'It doesn't matter if you're a different hollow' Ichigo said. 'You're still using Rukia's body so let her out now!'

'I don't mean to alarm you but _she_ has given me permission to be in control' Rukia said lazily. 'I'm allowed to do whatever I want to do.'

'Aizen!' Ichigo yelled at him. 'What did you do to her?!' Rukia wouldn't just become an arrancar and let the hollow use her body. Aizen must have done something.

'I believe I already told you that I did nothing' he stated calmly.

'I also remember telling you that this was none of his doing' Rukia said. 'It was all Rukia's doing.'

'Rukia-san, why did you ask me to bring your friends here?' Sayumi asked sadly. 'You didn't want to hurt them.' Rukia just appeared to ignore her. 'Please answer me.'

'I changed my mind' Rukia said bluntly. 'Now, let's get to what we should be doing.' She dismissed the previous topic as if it was nothing. 'I'm an arrancar and you're a shinigami. Where do you think this will end up?'

'I'm not fighting you again Rukia' Ichigo said.

'That leaves us with a problem, doesn't it' she said. 'Unfortunately, it appears that you don't have much of a choice. It's either me or Ichimaru and Aizen. I won't let you get to them so you're left with only one choice. So, should we start?' Ichigo just scowled and didn't respond. 'What's wrong?' she asked. 'Is it because I have two swords and you only have one?' She looked at both of her swords. 'Fighting with two swords is difficult to do unless it has truly been mastered. I believe that I'll get rid of one to even things out.'

Everyone knew what she was going to do next. She was going to get rid of Sode no Shirayuki and most likely destroy it. 'Rukia, don't do it!' Ichigo yelled. Rukia didn't listen and lightly threw one of the swords towards them. It landed in front of them on the floor. They were surprised to see that it was the arrancar zanpakutou.

'Do what you want with it' Rukia said. 'I don't need it. The full potential of that sword has been reached. It only contains my hollow powers. However, this sword still has some way to go. Several shikai abilities have been mastered and there is no bankai as of yet.' She looked over the sword. 'Besides, _she _would keep annoying me by trying to get back in control if I got rid of this one.'

'_That can't be the only reason for it'_ Ichigo thought. _'The real Rukia must still have some control. That's why she kept that one. I don't have any other choice right now. Fighting her last time was what brought her back but that was only because I had her sword.'_ He scowled as he had no other choice. 'If it will bring Rukia back, then I have no choice but to fight you.'

Rukia smiled slightly. 'That wasn't so hard now, was it?' she asked. She vanished instantly and suddenly reappeared behind him, attempting an attack. Ichigo quickly turned around and blocked her incoming strike. He was lucky that he was already in bankai otherwise he wouldn't have been able to block it. Everyone else knew better than to stay near the two of them and gave them some room. Aizen and Ichimaru just looked on. Rukia jumped back and held her sword out.

'Mae...' she said. Ichigo was shocked. She was going to release her shikai?! Surely Sode no Shirayuki wouldn't let her. Rukia had said that Sode no Shirayuki wouldn't give her powers to a hollow. Before saying anything else, Rukia simply smiled. 'Just kidding' she smirked as she attacked instantly. Ichigo was caught completely off-guard as he fell right into her trap. She only pretended to do it to confuse him and it worked better than she expected. Ichigo was thrown back into a wall causing some of the rubble to fall around him.

'_I walked right into that one'_ he thought as he stood up again. '_I thought that Rukia wouldn't do something like that but that's why I got hit. I have to remember that this isn't Rukia so I shouldn't just guess at what she would or wouldn't do.'_

'I wasn't entirely sure if that was going to work' Rukia commented. 'Was it because you really were confused by it? Or are you not even trying to defeat me because I have the body of one of your friends?'

'Just because you have Rukia's body, it doesn't mean you are Rukia! You said so yourself a little while ago.' The answer was a bit of both of what she asked. What she did raised questions but he didn't want to grievously wound Rukia's body even if she wasn't the one using it.

'It doesn't bother me in the slightest.' Rukia shrugged her shoulders. 'It's obvious that you don't want to hurt your friend's body but if you don't do that, it means that I can kill you easily.'

'**Oi, King' **his inner hollow said. **'I ain't got any problems with fightin' her so let me out will ya?'**

'_I don't need you to come out' _Ichigo said to the hollow. _'You wouldn't let me have any control ever again if I did let you out.'_

'**You **_**need**_** me here' **it replied. **'You can't fight properly because of who it is that you're fighting. Because of that, you'll die which means that I'll be going down with you. It's kill or be killed now.'**

'_I'm not killing her' _Ichigo said sternly. _'That might be what you want to do, but I'm not the same as you.'_

'**Heh, do what you want'**it said. **'It's gonna carry on like this, you'll be pretty much dead and that's when I'll take over.' **The hollow's voice disappeared back into his mind. Now he had something else to worry about. If he got too badly beaten up, the hollow would come out and would kill Rukia. He would need to end the fight without killing her but would that be possible with Aizen nearby? If Rukia failed him, he would most likely kill her anyway. He raised his sword again to re-enter his stance.

'You're continuing?' Rukia asked. 'That is surprising to say the least but I could also say that it is foolish.'

'I'm not going to just stand around and let you hit me' Ichigo said. 'I'm going to find way to put everything back to the way it should be.'

'You're going to do that?' Rukia asked. 'Sorry, but _she's _the only one who can do anything about me. Anything you try to do would end up killing me and her.'

'_What she's saying makes sense'_ Ichigo thought. _'I'm going to need some sort of miracle. _Even if that's the case, I'm not even going to attempt to kill you without knowing exactly what to do._'_

'Go ahead' Rukia smirked a little. 'Just try it.' She appeared in front of him again at extreme speed but Ichigo was expecting something like this. Rukia attacked but Ichigo pulled on his hollow mask before she could make contact. Rukia was surprised to see the mask as there was no memory of it. Rukia herself had never actually seen it. She only knew about it from being told about it. Ichigo exerted a lot of the reiatsu that the mask gave him. The sheer force of the reiatsu knocked her back. Ichigo, still with his mask on, rushed towards her to attack. She blocked with her sword but as she was still moving backwards due to the momentum from the reiatsu from earlier, she lost balance and was knocked back further by the force of the blades connecting. She hit the floor several times as the momentum kept carrying her backwards. She eventually found her footing and skidded to a halt.

'_That mask'_ Rukia thought. _'Its power boost is just like what this mask gives her. She hasn't seen it before so I didn't expect anything like that. Not bad' _she smiled to herself. Ichigo stood there and let the mask crumble away, surprising Rukia a little. 'Why bother doing that?' she asked. 'It seems to be the only way you can fight me.'

'That was just to show you that I can fight you' Ichigo replied. 'I still don't intend to kill you.'

You don't have a choice!' she yelled as she rushed forward. The blades met each other yet again. The swords clashed several times as they both looked almost evenly matched with speed. 'You can't survive just by trying to convert your enemies to your side or ending the fight with some lucky event. Some fights have to be decided by a death and this is one of those times!' Rukia's next strike knocked Ichigo back a fair distance. He didn't have time to do anything else if she attacked again. He couldn't use his mask again for a little while and he knew that her speed would easily take him by surprise. He couldn't think of anything to do. He then heard the sound of swift footsteps towards him. Someone was running up to him. It wasn't Rukia so who was it?

'Rukia-san, please stop it!' the person shouted. Sayumi ran in between Rukia and Ichigo with her arms spread out in order to protect Ichigo. 'I don't want to see you fight your friends.' Both of them were surprised by her interference.

'Sayumi' Rukia said quietly.

'Don't you remember anything?!' she asked her. 'Everyone who's here are your friends. Please, don't fight them anymore!'

'Sayumi...' Rukia said again. She slowly walked closer to her.

'Yes, that's right. I'm Sayumi. Remember?' she said.

'_I... can't fight her'_ Rukia thought. _'But Aizen's still here watching me. What should I do?'_ She suddenly grabbed her head with her free hand. She looked like she was fighting something on the inside. 'You fool!' she shouted. 'You can't have control while the mask is on!' It was obviously the hollow that had just spoken but what did it mean by those words?

'Rukia, keep fighting it!' Ichigo yelled. Rukia opened one of her eyes slightly to look around. She saw Aizen with a sly smile on his face.

'It seems that you have a problem with striking down this creation' Aizen said to her. 'Allow me to do so instead.' He began drawing his sword.

'_It's no use. He knows!'_ she thought. 'NO!' she yelled at him. She grabbed Sayumi's arm and then disappeared along with her. All of them stood there for a little while not saying anything.

'Well, Gin, let's go' Aizen said. 'We have a certain town to visit.' Aizen and Gin turned around and began to walk away.

'What does Rukia have to do with any of your plans?!' Ichigo demanded to know.

'She has played a large role in advancing them and has made them entirely possible for me to complete' Aizen told him. 'Her role will soon come to an end though.'

'Since she's such a big part of your plans, why are you leaving her and that arrancar here?' Ichigo asked.

'Surely you must know what is happening with her right now' Aizen replied. 'It also appears that you do not know what that arrancar truly is. I have no need for either of them at this point.' Aizen and Gin disappeared from sight so they could put their master plan into motion.

'They know something about her' Uryu said.

'That arrancar's got some secrets too it seems' Renji said.

Ichigo just stood there and thought about what was said. Aizen appeared to know something about what was happening to Rukia now. What did the hollow mean by Rukia not being able to have control when the mask is on? Surely the mask would always be on and yet, last time, Rukia was able to regain control in the end. Also, what was Sayumi? Aizen said they have no idea of what she actually is. Two more mysteries had now been added to the metaphorical pile that now seemed to be becoming a mountain.

_Meanwhile_

'Rukia-san, a-are you alright?' Sayumi asked in concern. Rukia was on her knees and breathing heavily. She had taken Sayumi to a place quite far away from where they were before and she had been like this ever since they appeared here. She was fine when she was fighting a little while ago but now she seemed very tired and worn out. She brought her hand up to her face

'I... told you not to... call me by any honorifics... didn't I, Sayumi?' Rukia said in between breaths. 'I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me.' Rukia looked up from the floor to see her again. Sayumi was slightly surprised when she looked at her.

'W-What happened to your mask?' she asked nervously. Rukia's hollow mask was no longer on her face. Her eyes were normal coloured again too.

'I'll explain it when we meet up with everyone again' Rukia said. 'I'm sorry' she began. 'I should have told you what I was doing. Everyone was probably worried about me.' She stood up when she appeared to catch her breath again. 'Come on, let's find them again.'

* * *

Yay, Rukia isn't completely evil! But how come she doesnt appear to be an arrancar anymore? :S

Find out the answer next chapter!

'Til then.


	29. Explanation

Ugh, it's been ages since I last updated. I've had a ton of homework and other things to do with college recently. I also got some results from exams back and errrm... let's just say I could have done better.

Anyway, recently, the filler episodes have been going down in my opinion. I don't even find them particularly funny anymore. The only good bits of this arc so far are the first episode of it (episode 256: the one with lots of Rukia in it) and the part where Hanataro's zanpakutou owned that Toju with a massive cannon that came from it's chest (That was incredibly badass :D). I'm not going to go as far as to drop Bleach but I really am tempted to because there are way too many fillers now.

Enough of my ranting, time to read the chapter. As compensation for not updating anything for ages, this chapter is extra long :D.

**

* * *

Chapter 29**

**Explanation**

'Aizen said he was going to Karakura town now didn't he?' Renji said. 'That means we've got to find some way of getting there and quick.' True, Aizen was going to Karakura town now but everyone had no way to stop him right now. He could use a garganta to get there. No one apart from Aizen and his subordinates and Urahara could use one.

'Aizen can get there quickly with a garganta' Chad said. 'There's nothing saying that he isn't already there.'

'It doesn't appear that any of us can do anything' Uryu said. No one knew of anything they could do to get there to stop Aizen.

'Rukia' Ichigo said after a while. All this got was a confused look from everyone. 'Rukia can get us back' he told them. 'If she's an arrancar, she must be able to make a garganta.'

'Of course' Uryu said after thinking briefly. 'That might even be the reason why she became an arrancar again.'

'Then why did she attack us?' Chad asked.

'I can only imagine that it was because Aizen was watching us' he concluded. 'She probably couldn't move around easily as Aizen may have known that she was in control.'

'When she attacked us, it was definitely a hollow in control' Ichigo remembered. 'She might not have been able to make the fight look convincing to Aizen if she was the one fighting us. She must have let her hollow take control for that fight.'

Just then, a few hollows appeared before them. 'Damn, Aizen's probably gonna send wave after wave of these just to keep us here' Renji muttered. The hollows began attacking immediately but they were cut down before anyone could react.

'Who-?' They all said before seeing someone they recognised. 'Rukia?'

'Yes, it's me' she said. Sayumi was with her but she had obviously been told to stay back while Rukia killed the hollows. She sheathed her sword and then looked at the area where the hollows were. What looked like their reiatsu remained. Strangely, it seemed drawn towards her until her body appeared to absorb it. She was confused by what this meant but dismissed it as it was most likely to do with her hollow.

'You've got a lot of explaining to do.' Ichigo said to her. 'First off, what's the deal with her?' he said as he pointed at Sayumi. 'And also, why aren't you an arrancar now?'

'I should have explained everything to you all before' Rukia admitted. 'But, you all deserve to know about it.' She began telling them about what happened while she was gone.

* * *

_Flashback_

**(Note:** This flashback is a continuation of the events in chapter 26)_  
_

'Rukia-chan, wait up~' Ichimaru called to her. Rukia didn't stop though. She just kept walking away from him. Ichimaru smiled evilly and drew his sword. 'Ikorose...' Rukia heard he was about to release his shikai. He probably wouldn't be allowed to kill her. He was just trying to scare her. What she didn't expect was when he appeared some distance in front of her. 'Shinsou!' The sword extended itself at an extremely fast speed. Rukia was lucky to have stopped because if she didn't, she would have kept going and been impaled straight through her heart.

'You have my attention now' she said calmly. 'So what are you going to do?'

'I'm not really supposed to let ya go anywhere without Aizen's permission' he replied. He allowed his sword to retract before walking close to her. Rukia considered drawing her own sword but she didn't want to risk having it taken away from her. 'Anyway, I've got to take care of ya while yer stayin' with us.' He placed his hand on her head. Rukia immediately tensed up when he touched her. 'Now we can get to know each other a little better' he said slyly. Rukia didn't like the sound of that. He probably had something else in mind.

'Why do you always have to act like that around me?' she asked, annoyed. 'Am I the only person you torment? You enjoy what you do to me don't you?'

'I just like our conversations' he said.

'I don't believe I've ever replied when you tried to start a conversation with me' she told him. 'I believe I was always petrified in fear.'

'Awww, I'm not that bad am I?' He pretended to feel slightly hurt as he asked her.

'Yes you are!' she snapped. 'Out of everything in this world or all other worlds, _you _are the thing that I hate the most!'

'Let's change the subject shall we?' he said, dismissing what they were just talking about like it was nothing. 'Aizen said that I had to take care of ya and he said he was gonna do somethin' in a while so I guess I should just be takin' ya to yer room or somethin'.'

'I can find it myself' Rukia said. Not wanting to even be near him anymore, she walked away from him again. Ichimaru smirked a little.

'Ikorose, Shinsou' he said again. Rukia wasn't worried this time. She knew he wouldn't kill her. He was just trying to scare her again. This time though the blade went much faster so she couldn't tell when it would hit. She was stabbed through the shoulder. She stopped herself from showing any weakness from it despite the fact that it hurt a lot when he retracted the blade. She placed her hand over the wound and scowled at him. He was probably enjoying her pain too.

'Fine' Rukia said while facing away from him. 'Take me to see Aizen then. Maybe that way I won't have to see you all the time. I'd rather see Aizen than you.'

'That's not really what a noble like you should say to others' He was enjoying his taunting.

'I hardly consider myself a noble anymore and how I act to people is none of your concern' she said. She simply followed him to the room where she would be placed this time. She was in a different room now although it looked very similar to the last one.

'Wait here for a while and Aizen will come see ya' Ichimaru said as he walked out. 'He said he wanted to try somethin'.'

Rukia thought about what he said. _'Try something? What does he mean? Does the Hougyoku have more abilities?' _She couldn't think of anything he could possibly try. All she knew was that the Hougyoku could create arrancar. _'Am I just going to be a test subject again?' _After a while of waiting the door opened.

'I'm glad to hear that you and Gin are getting along well' Aizen smirked as he walked in. He was holding something that was folded up. It looked like an arrancar uniform.

'What are you testing on me this time?' Rukia asked. 'You already found that you could turn a shinigami into an arrancar.'

'This time, I won't be trying anything' he began. Rukia looked at him curiously. 'You will be.' He showed her the Hougyoku. It didn't have its gem-like outer casing now. It was just a small black orb. Aizen had a cloth over the hand that was holding it to prevent it from activating itself while it was in his hand.

'What are you thinking now?' she asked. 'Do you think I can use it? If you think that I could do that, that's impossible.'

'Ordinarily, yes it would be impossible' he explained. 'The Hougyoku can be awakened briefly by someone with about twice the power of a standard captain.'

'I'm not exactly what you would define as captain strength though am I' Rukia interrupted.

'Please let me finish' Aizen held up a hand. 'This theory came to me when I remembered it had absorbed your reiatsu. I think that you may be able to use it. The reason being is that it may recognize your reiatsu and it might think that you are offering more to it. Rather than continue thinking about it, I decided to simply test it now.' Ichimaru then came in with a hollow that was bound so much that it couldn't move. 'Now, let's see if it will allow you to create an arrancar.' He placed the cloth with the Hougyoku on it on the hollow's back. Rukia just looked at it. 'It is simple. You will only have to touch it and then see what happens.'

Rukia slowly moved closer to it. The hollow couldn't move at all. The kidou that was binding it was very strong. She slowly held her arm out so she could touch the Hougyoku. She wasn't entirely sure of what would happen. She decided that going slowly wouldn't make a difference so she just touched it. Nothing was happening but she let her fingers continue resting on it. She looked down at it again. Small black tendrils came from it and looked like they were burrowing into her fingers. She was shocked to see this but she still didn't move her hand back.

She felt a familiar feeling shortly after. _'This feeling is... Is it absorbing my reiatsu?' _The Hougyoku began to glow as Rukia pulled her hand back. It had taken some of her reiatsu. It didn't take much but she definitely felt it do so. She covered her eyes as she was suddenly blinded by a bright light from the Hougyoku.

When she could see again, she stared at the thing that was on the floor in front of her. _'D-Did I just create that?'_ It was an arrancar. She had been able to use the Hougyoku's power. The arrancar she had created was female. It had long, straight black hair. It had a hollow hole on its right shoulder. When it looked up to look at its surroundings, Rukia noticed that its eyes were the same violet colour as her own. Its mask looked like the beginning of a pair of glasses. There was a part that went over its ear and it ended underneath its right eye.

'It seems you were able to create one' Aizen commented. 'However, it isn't nearly as strong as what I have created.' He was about to kill it as it would be of no use to him.

'Wait' Rukia stopped him. 'That isn't your arrancar. I created it.'

'Does that make any difference to you?' Aizen asked.

'I won't let you kill it just because you think it isn't strong. I'm choosing to let it live.' She had created it and it had used some of her reiatsu. Rukia saw it as a small part of her because of that.

'It doesn't matter what you choose to do with it. Whatever you do with it is meaningless.' Aizen and Ichimaru left the room. Aizen had left the arrancar uniform behind.

Rukia was left alone with her creation. The arrancar looked quite weak and frail. Rukia picked up the uniform and helped it dress itself. Even if it was an arrancar, she was going to look after it. It probably wouldn't be able to survive on its own. It was a somewhat similar situation to what Rukia was like when she was growing up in Inuzuri. She wouldn't have been able to survive there if she was on her own.

'You... created me, didn't you?' it said softly. Even its voice seemed weak. Rukia thought that it was weak because she didn't have enough reiatsu to give to it to make it strong like Aizen's arrancar. It was hard to believe that this arrancar was once the hollow that was bound a little while ago.

Rukia nodded. 'I'm sorry I couldn't make you very strong.' She felt that it might die because it was too weak. 'The other two people who just left wanted to kill you because you weren't strong.'

'You are a shinigami aren't you?' it asked. Rukia nodded again. 'Why do you care for me?'

'Until now, I thought all arrancar were just like regular hollows' Rukia said. _'Even I was just like a regular hollow'_ she thought. 'I can tell that you don't mean to do any harm. I don't know if it's because I couldn't make you strong or if it's because of my reiatsu. Because you have some of my reiatsu, you are a part of me.' Rukia sat in front of her after helping her. 'My name is Rukia. Do you have a name?'

'I don't know' was her soft reply.

'If you don't have a name, I can give you one' Rukia said. There was no response from her creation so she assumed she had no objections. She began thinking about what she could call her. 'Sayumi' she decided. 'Your name can be Sayumi.' It was a much nicer name than what all the other arrancar called themselves.

'Sayumi' she repeated to herself. 'Thank you, Rukia-sama' she smiled at her.

'Please, don't call me that just because I created you' Rukia said. 'Rukia will be fine.' Rukia paused for a while. 'I don't want to upset you but I didn't intend to create you. It was just an experiment to see if I could use the Hougyoku.'

'It doesn't matter' Sayumi shook her head. At least she seemed a bit livelier now. 'You didn't want to kill me like the other two wanted. Rukia-san, if you want me to do something, I'll try to do it to the best of my ability.'

'Thank you, Sayumi' Rukia smiled. 'But I don't-' she was about to say she didn't need anything but she remembered she was technically a hostage. 'Actually, there might be something. I'm only here now because I'm a hostage' Rukia explained. 'My friends are probably trying to look for me. Do you think you would be able to find them for me?'

'Yes, I'll try to.' She was about to get up but Rukia stopped her.

'You won't just be able to go straight up to them' she said. 'They're trying to rescue me so they'll kill any arrancar. You'll have to convince them that you know me. If you tell them that I created you, that might help but you'll have to be prepared for anything else they'll ask you. Hopefully they'll notice that your eyes are the same colour as mine.' She thought to herself after saying that. _'Actually, they probably wouldn't notice that.'_

'Can you tell me what they look like?' she asked.

'There are four of them. Two of them will be wearing what I'm wearing' she explained. 'You should be able to recognise them because of their hair colour. Try to make sure you aren't seen by the two you saw earlier. They'll probably kill you. If you see any arrancar, don't worry about them. They won't attack you. That's all I think.'

'Okay, I'll do my best, Rukia-san.' She opened the door, looked around and quickly went out.

'Why does someone like her have to be an arrancar?' Rukia asked herself. 'I have to keep reminding myself that she is an arrancar.' She just sat in the room hoping that Sayumi would find her friends and convince them that she wasn't like other arrancar.

_End Flashback_

'Sayumi is an arrancar that I created' Rukia said. 'She only has some of my reiatsu and nothing else.'

'Okay, that clears that up' Renji said. 'Now tell us why you aren't an arrancar anymore.'

'Technically, I still am' Rukia said. 'I can choose when to put it on or take it off.'

'So that means...?' Ichigo began. 'You're a vizard?'

'I don't know what I am anymore' Rukia said sadly. 'I'm more like that now than I was last time.'

'So, what's the difference?' he asked.

'When I put the mask on, I have little control over the hollow' she explained. 'That was what happened earlier. I tried to fight against it to stop it from attacking Sayumi.'

* * *

_Another Flashback :D_

**(Note:** This flashback is written in he 1st person.)

I was still in the room for a while after Sayumi left. Aizen came in a while later to try to tempt me with the Hougyoku again. When he left, he left the Hougyoku behind. He said I might change my mind if I was actually holding it. It was just sitting in my hand while I looked at it. There was something strange about it. It felt like I was looking directly at power. I couldn't really resist it. I was holding this incredibly powerful object in my hand and I was going to let it go to waste. I changed my mind straight away but I wasn't going to be selfish like last time.

I allowed Sode no Shirayuki to appear in her materialised form to talk to her. As I thought, she thought it wouldn't be a good idea. I didn't need to do this again. I told her that this time, I was going to make sure I was in control so I could be of more use to everyone. She didn't seem particularly pleased with my reasoning but she allowed me to proceed. I also told her that she would have to use it on me once I became I hollow anyway. She should be able to use it. She is a part of me after all. I looked at it again before trying to mentally prepare myself for it. Slowly, I brought it up and placed it against my forehead. I wasn't even sure if it was going to work. I knew I could use it to create arrancar but I didn't know if I could turn myself into one.

I could tell that it began working when I felt the same strange feeling as before. This told me the pain would start again too. It did shortly after. I dropped the Hougyoku when I brought my hands up to grab my head. I tried to hold in the pain for a while but I couldn't do that anymore. I cried out in pain as it was becoming unbearable. My face was being covered by the mask and my arms and legs were beginning to be covered in the same substance. I knew it would be over when everything formed but, in my opinion, it wasn't happening fast enough.

After what seemed like an eternity of agony, everything was complete. I was just standing there in a familiar form. At the time, I didn't know what was happening. I lost all memory of everything. My vision was blurred so I could barely see Sode no Shirayuki even though she as standing right in front of me. When I saw her though, I didn't know who or what she was. For all I knew, she might have been a threat. I shakily walked closer to her. I wasn't used to this body yet. She moved slightly as she was probably going to use the Hougyoku on me again. For some reason, I attacked her. I attacked my own zanpakutou. She was able to move out of the way. She must have realised that I was in a mindless state right now. I would never have attacked her under normal means. She then encased the majority of my body in ice to prevent me from moving. She approached me again and held the Hougyoku up in front of me. This time I couldn't get away and I was transformed again. Everything went black shortly after.

I woke up again, still trapped in the ice, in my arrancar form. It felt very familiar to me as it was the same as last time. When Sode no Shirayuki noticed I wasn't trying to break out of the ice, she was about to let me out as she knew it was me.

'Wait a minute' I said to her. 'I'm not finished yet. I need to face the hollow on the inside. While I'm doing that, I'll turn back to what I was a little while ago. You'll have to fight me until I can defeat it.' She agreed with what I had said to her as she knew I was trying to lessen what I had done to myself. I went inside my soul into my inner world to confront the hollow.

'I was beginning to wonder when you would show up' a voice said to me. I could instantly tell who it was. That was my voice so it was definitely the hollow. This hollow looked exactly like the last one. White skin and robes, yellow eyes with black sclera but it still had my hair colour. I simply frowned when I looked at it. 'That's not exactly the reaction I was expecting' it said.

'I know what you are, hollow' I told it. 'I came here to face you myself and when I defeat you, you're going to be doing what I tell you.' I drew my sword. Sode no Shirayuki was on the outside so I couldn't use her powers. This would be a hard battle.

'You're making a bet with me?' it asked. 'Interesting. The fact that you think you can defeat me is even more laughable. When I defeat you, you can watch as I kill all of the people you care about before I kill you. That way, you will learn how foolish you were to challenge me.'

'You don't scare me' I said. 'I did this to myself willingly. I was prepared for this.'

'Heh, you act tough, but that's all there is to it' it smirked. 'You can't hide anything from me. I came from you. You're pretending to act strong because you feel completely empty on the inside. I believe it has something to do with something similar to what I am, correct?'

'...' I didn't say anything. It was just trying to prevent me from fighting at my strongest although; all of what it said was true. I wasn't going to admit that though. 'Let's get this over with' I said to it.

'Someone seems rather eager' it said to me. It attacked me straight away. It felt similar to the time when I beat my last hollow. 'I'm not going to be reckless just because I overpower you with a blade' it said as I was pushed back by it. I was tempted to use Sode no Shirayuki but I remembered I couldn't. She wasn't here at this time. 'What's wrong? Can't you use anything to give yourself that extra boost you need?' It was mocking me. It knew I couldn't use anything else.

Once again, I didn't respond. I would have to think of something to try to confuse or outsmart it. I rushed towards it to attack as it seemed unlikely that I would do that (It seemed unlikely to me anyway). I was easily countered and pushed back though because I didn't really put any thought into my attack and I didn't have a backup plan either.

'If you're planning to lose, you can make it much simpler for yourself' it said lazily. 'That attack was nothing like you would normally do which means that you haven't attempted it before.' The hollow then seemed to copy my previous attack. I stood there defensively ready to block. Before it got to me though, it disappeared and reappeared right behind me. I was kicked in the back and fell to the ground. I remained there for a while trying to think of something. 'Stand up' it ordered me. ''We're not finished yet.' I scowled at it as I picked up my sword again.

'_Damn hollow' _I thought. _'I need to defeat it quickly. If Aizen appears on the outside, he'll see Shirayuki fighting me. He'll probably kill her and then do something to me to make sure I never have control over my body again.'_

It noticed I was just standing there thinking to myself. 'Oi, I told you we're not done yet, so do something already!' It attacked me again but as the swords connected I saw a flash of light. When it was gone, I found myself in a completely different place and also time by the looks of everything else.

'This is... the Soul Society?' I said to myself. I found out where I was in the Soul Society too. 'Why am I at the Sogyoku hill?' I looked around a little more for an explanation. I was shocked by what I saw. I saw Ichigo and Renji standing together to face Aizen along with Ichimaru and Tosen. Convinced that I had seen this before, I looked down at myself to completely clarify it. I was wearing the white prisoner's robes with a reiatsu sealing collar around my neck. My hair was shorter again and my body was exactly how it was back then too. 'What happened?' I asked myself. I was facing my hollow a little while ago and now I was here.

Back on the subject of what was going on around me, I knew I had seen this before. It was one of the worst times of my life. I was scared of something like this happening again. Ichigo and Renji were planning their attack on Aizen. I already knew the outcome of it. Aizen blocked Ichigo's attack with a single finger and easily incapacitated both him and Renji. I tried to yell to them to stop them but I couldn't make any sound. This event had already happened. I hadn't travelled back in time so I couldn't stop it. I had to sit there and watch as two of the people I cared about the most were seriously hurt because they were trying to protect me and I could do nothing. I watched as their attempt to defeat Aizen failed and the two of them were cut down, leaving me all alone.

'_That's your fear._' I heard the hollow's voice. _'You fear that your friends will all be defeated while are too weak to do anything yourself.'_ I was back in my inner world at this point. Both me and the hollow were holding each other back with our swords clashing.

'What was that just now?' I asked. 'Why was I shown that?'

'That's your problem' the hollow said. 'You're worried about being weak. How can you be strong if you worry about such stupid things?' It began attacking me with several strikes which I blocked.

'I might be afraid of that happening again...' I began. 'But... it's also the reason why I have to get stronger!' I saw an opening and seemingly turned the battle around. The hollow was being pushed back now. 'I have to get stronger so I can stop that from ever happening again!' The hollow was overwhelmed by my attacks that were so full of my confidence and determination. I pushed it back for the final time and landed a near fatal hit. It collapsed onto the ground.

I stood over the defeated hollow. 'Damn it!' it yelled. 'Damn you, Kuchiki Rukia!' I simply continued to look down at it. 'Che, I never thought I would end up losing to the person I planned to control.' It was clearly irritated because of its loss but I didn't care about that. I had finally got what I wanted. I offered my hand to it to help it up. I didn't think it would be a good idea to stay on bad terms with it. 'I guess you're the one calling the shots around here, for now anyway' it said as it grabbed my hand.

'Because I defeated you, this means I'm a vizard now, doesn't it?' I asked.

'Not really, no' it said bluntly. I looked at it in confusion. 'You got some of the events on the outside wrong. You went a step too far. Vizards were only turned into hollows by the Hougyoku. You turned yourself into an arrancar which is one step ahead of them.'

'So what does this mean for me?' I asked, dreading the answer.

'Well, whenever you put the mask on, you'll basically become an arrancar form which means I'll be in control since I'm the hollow' it explained.

'You knew?' I asked, almost seething with rage after finding this out. 'You knew that if I defeated you, you would have control anyway?!'

'Not my fault' it said lazily. 'I didn't intend on losing though did I.' I turned around in my rage and just kicked a mound of snow as hard as I could.

'Damn it!' I yelled. I can't even do this right. Why did I think I could do this myself? I just assumed I knew what I was doing. The hollow was just watching me. It looked around what it thought to be its new home if it could call it that.

'How am I going to live here?' it asked out loud. I didn't answer it but then again it might have just been talking to itself. It just looked around again and approached the large tree in the centre. It climbed up and simply sat on one of the branches. I resumed control of my body on the outside.

When I was in control again, I could feel that some parts of my body were very cold. It was probably because Sode no Shirayuki attempted to stop me as opposed to fighting me. I was glad to see that she wasn't hurt. I explained what had happened shortly afterwards. Knowing what I had to do now, I put the mask on again and told the hollow that we were going to see Aizen.

_End Flashback_

'That's all of what happened. I'm an arrancar when the mask is on but I'm a shinigami when it isn't.' Rukia concluded. 'After that, I told the hollow to attack you but not kill you.'

'Rukia, did you think that you had to do that to yourself?' Ichigo asked. 'You-'

'I know!'Rukia interrupted. She shouted her response but there was sadness in her voice. 'I know that I'm different now. I know that it was my fault. But I can't help it. This is what I am now.' She looked down at the floor. 'I never realised how... happy I was as a shinigami. I was like everyone else: normal. I was different to everyone else too but in a good way. I had my own personality and individuality. Now look at me! I don't even know what I am anymore. I'm different to everyone. I'm the only person in this world that is like this. I'm... I'm just a monster compared to how I was before! That's why...' Tears rolled down her face and fell to the floor. 'That's why I hate myself now!'

The snow in her inner world had become almost violent in the past few minutes. It was practically a raging blizzard now. The hollow remained in the tree looking up at the sky through the branches. Sode no Shirayuki stood where she usually did. She walked out from under the protection of the tree into the blizzard and looked up. The snow didn't affect her at all anyway.

'Rukia' she said to herself. The snowfall was reflected by how Rukia was feeling. It was normally gentle but this time was one of the only times it was different. To Sode no Shirayuki's knowledge, this was the third time the snow had been like this. The first being when Kaien died and the second time being when she attempted to escape from the fortress. There might have been more times like this when she was sentenced to execution but at that time, Rukia didn't have her sword so Sode no Shirayuki wouldn't have been there.

'Rukia' Renji said, trying to talk her out of it. 'It doesn't matter anymore. You're still the same person that you've always been.'

'Rukia-san' Sayumi began. 'I know that I haven't known you for as long as everyone else but I know that you're a kind person.'

'Yeah' Ichigo agreed. 'And you're doing that thing again where you're putting yourself above everyone else' he said. 'What do you think I did when I realised I was a vizard?' He waited a little while to see if she responded. She didn't so he carried on. 'I just carried on as if it was normal. Sure, I knew I'd have to try to stop it somehow but I wasn't doing what you're doing.'

'I might not be happy with any decisions I've made in the past' Rukia began. 'But I don't want to die yet if that's what you're trying to talk me out of doing.' She finally looked up from the floor. 'I still want to help all of you as a friend, not as whatever it is I am.' Everyone smiled in approval as she was as close to being back to normal as she was going to get now. _'I really don't deserve such good friends' _she smiled to herself.

* * *

You might have been wondering why the flashbacks were in different perspectives. This is because the first flashback was originally going to be part of chapter 26 but I later took it out because I didnt want to include it yet. I wrote the second flashback in 1st person because I thought it would work better. I couldnt be bothered to change all of the first flashback to the 1st person as I had already written all of it so I hope that clears everything up.

Well, the point of his chapter wasn't really to advance the plot. It was mostly so everyone knew what was going on. As usual reviews are appreciated.

I have an idea for the next two chapters but if I decide to stick with what I have planned, they will be fairly short. I just thought I'd tell you all.

I don't have anything else to say so I'll be off.

'Til next time.


	30. Danger Pt 1

Hey, everyone (I say that very lethargically). It's the Easter holidays and I have homework etc. I've been doing stuff that isnt about publishing more chapters an awful lot. I just feel so lazy nowadays.

The title of the chapter says 'part 1' but that doesnt mean there's going to be about 10 parts. There will only be 2.

When you get the next chapter will depend on how lazy I feel over the course of whenever...

* * *

**Chapter 30**

**Danger Pt. 1  
**

Rukia was feeling a bit better now that she had finally told them everything. She wasn't hiding anything from them anymore. Shortly after, Rukia felt somewhat different on the inside. She couldn't tell what it was but she could definitely tell something wasn't right. She wasn't feeling sick or anything like that so it must have been...

'_My inner world!' _she said to herself. Something was happening there but she didn't know what it was yet.

'_Rukia!' _Sode no Shirayuki said to her._ 'I don't know what has happened here but you have to see for yourself!' _Something was definitely wrong if Sode no Shirayuki was calling her to her own inner world.

'Something... doesn't feel right' she said to everyone. 'It's something in my inner world. I don't know what's going on.' This shocked them all as they couldn't do anything to help her if it was in her inner world.

'What? Are you sure?' Renji asked her. She nodded.

'It's only just started feeling like this' she explained. 'It's nothing like I've ever felt before.' She finally went into her inner world to see what was going on. 'Wh-What... is this?' she said as she looked around. 'How is this even possible?!'

Everyone was waiting anxiously to find out what was happening in her inner world. They could tell she had gone in there because she was standing in front of them with her eyes closed looking like she was concentrating on something. She suddenly opened her eyes again. She looked very worried about something.

'Get away from me' she said shakily.

'What's going on?' Ichigo asked. Whatever was happening seemed to have become far worse than just being 'something wrong.'

'Get away from me' she repeated. 'Now!' She wasn't ordering them to do so because she was trying to get rid of them. She was visibly worried about something that was about to happen. She was ordering them to do this because she was worried for their safety.

'Tell us what's happening!' Ichigo yelled at her.

'I can't explain now' she said. 'There's not enough time! Just run!' She grabbed her head with her hands and fell to her knees. 'RUN!' she practically screamed at them despite the fact she looked like she was in serious pain.

'Is this about your hollow?' Ichigo asked. He had somehow associated her being this kind of pain with her hollow by now. She didn't say anything back but he thought he could see her shake her head slightly. What was going on? From her response, this obviously wasn't her hollow.

'I can't... hold on... much longer' she managed to say eventually. Her hand shakily moved away from her head and down towards her sword. She managed to remove it and the sheath from around her waist and threw it away from her. Knowing Rukia, she would have wanted to protect it. If she threw it away from her that must have meant that something was taking over. She cried out soon after. No one was sure of what to do. If Rukia couldn't handle it in her inner world, what could they do?

Still on the floor, Rukia fell forwards so she was holding herself up with her arms. She was completely silent which was odd as she seemed to be in a lot of pain a little while ago. No one did anything because she had warned them to get away from her before this so something wasn't right.

'Oi, Rukia' Ichigo finally said, trying to get a response from her. She still didn't say anything though. Instead, she began to stand up. She swayed from side to side a little as she did so. She only stood up a little as the top half of her body was still bent over facing the floor. Everyone stepped back a bit because this definitely couldn't be Rukia anymore. They then noticed that a bone-like substance began covering her arms. They all got ready to defend themselves as it was obvious that she was becoming a hollow again. She finally stood up straight so her face was revealed.

Her complete hollow mask was on, her eyes were glazed over and golden coloured. Strangely, she was swaying a little as if she wasn't used to her body. She looked around, scanning the area as it all seemed foreign to her. She looked closely at her sword that was lying on the floor some distance away from her.

'Shira... yu... ki' she whispered from behind the mask. Rukia still seemed to have a small amount of control. She turned towards it and slowly made her way towards it. Ichigo stepped in between it and her before she got to it. Rukia stopped and looked at him. She couldn't tell if the person in front of her was an enemy or not.

'I can't let you get to your sword, Rukia' he said to her. He wasn't entirely sure that his words would actually reach her but it was worth a shot. The armour like covering on her arms wasn't complete yet so it might have worked. He knew that her hollow form had blade like protrusions from her wrists. If they formed now, she would definitely attack. 'You wanted to protect it from yourself didn't you?' She looked at him blankly.

'Kurosaki, are you sure about this?' Uryu asked. 'You don't know what could happen or what has happened.'

'I don't know what's happened, but that doesn't mean I'm just gonna stand around and do nothing' he replied. 'She's still in there. She won't attack us, at least, not yet.'

Rukia could feel her consciousness fading. It wouldn't be long until she would be completely overcome. She was desperately trying to keep in control for as long as possible to protect everyone.

'_Everyone... I can't hold on... anymore'_ she thought to herself. _'Please... get away... or just... kill me.'_ She lost complete control of her body, hoping that her friends would hear her silent words. On the outside, her transformation was complete. She lifted her arms up in a sort of battle stance as the blades grew from her wrists.

* * *

Not to start moaning at all of you but I might be feeling lazy because I'm not really motivated. Anything motivating that you have to say will be appreciated.

'Til next time.


	31. Danger Pt 2

I still dont own bleach or the characters

Well, heres the next chapter. It took a while to write but I think its still good.

I finished Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days the other day so I'm in a good mood of sorts (Xigbar and Luxord are my favourites :P). Pretty sad ending but no manly tears this time :D. BlazBlue for the PS3 is a very good game too so I've been playing that too (Arakune FTW!). But most of all, I've been playing Pokemon Soul Silver (I loves my team I does :D). Anyone who sighs in disgust at that or shakes their heads at me after reading that can all die.

Onto the topic of the anime, the Sword Fiend Arc finally ended. I thought the ending was a bit crappy. Most of the zanpakutou spirits didnt do anything except get owned. Now that the anime is back to the canon material, we get new opening and ending songs yay! The opening song is ok. The video for it is very good but it contains a lot of spoliers (I don't think that really matters because I'm willing to be that everyone who watches the anime is reading the manga because the anime blasts us with fillers.) The ending song..... what the hell is that?! Complete garbage is what it is. The video has some lolsy moments such as Barragan being like a pimp. What I don't understand is: when did Yoruichi get an afro? It looks reeeaaaaaly weird. I think that theyre trying to give us the idea that those three are like the sluts of Bleach (I hate Orihime anyway so I support that fact).

Overall, the new opening and ending don't have enough Rukia in them so they can all die and then hire new people who will make an opening and ending that _I _like and then scrap the whole idea of Bleach and make an anime that is solely about Rukia and get rid of the characters I hate. That ain't gonna happen but a man can dream can't he?

Enjoy the chapter.

**

* * *

Chapter 31**

**Danger Pt 2**

'Wh-what is this?!' Rukia exclaimed in disbelief upon arriving in her inner world. 'How is this even possible?!' Inside her inner world, there were many hollows wandering around. There were more of them seemingly appearing out of nowhere. 'Shirayuki, what happened?' she asked.

'I don't know' she replied. 'They began appearing not long ago.'

'Is this to do with _her_?' Rukia gestured over to where her hollow usually sat.

'_Che. It figures you would blame me'_ it scoffed. _'These damn weakling hollows' _it muttered. _'I'm the only one who should actually be here.'_ It stood up and picked up its sword. _'You are going to clear them out with me'_ it said as it pointed it's sword at Rukia. _'This place is going to be exactly how I want it when we're done: just as remote as before so it'll be easier for me to take over whenever I want.'_

'You can do what you want' Rukia said. 'As long as you get rid of them that is.'

'Rukia, I highly advise that you don't fight them' Shirayuki said. Rukia was surprised and shocked to hear her say that.

'What are you saying?!' she snapped. 'I should just leave them here?!'

'Look at them all' she said calmly. 'There are hundreds of them and more are appearing every second. They may not attack now, but when they do, we will be hopelessly outnumbered. Killing even one of them might spark something.'

Rukia didn't say anything for a little while. All of what Shirayuki said made perfect sense. If the hollows retaliated, they would definitely be killed. 'What are we supposed to do?' she asked.

'We need to know how they got here first of all' Shirayuki replied. 'If we know that, we may be able to stop more from appearing. We can't risk attacking head-on now.'

'_Stupid woman' _the hollow said. _'Waiting around will get us nowhere. You can do what you want, but I'm going to start clearing them out.'_ No one could stop it now. It rushed up to a hollow and attacked it. The hollow simply stood there but at the last second, it blocked the attack. This sudden action shocked all three of them. The nearby hollows began looking up, as if finally noticing the true inhabitants of this inner world. Rukia's hollow backed off from the hollow it attacked. _'What's up with them? They were just pretending to do nothing?!'_

'So it would seem' Sode no Shirayuki responded. 'They were most likely waiting for their numbers to increase before doing so. It's too late to fight them without drawing their attention.' Rukia began stepping back as the hollows began moving forward.

'Does this mean...' she began. '...we can't do anything anymore?' She knew the answer to her question. No, they couldn't do anything anymore. Attacking them would be able to reduce their numbers a little but not without the cost of a life. There was only one thing they could do now: run. Run and hope that they wouldn't be able to get caught by them. Believing that everyone else would have thought the same, Rukia turned and began running into the forest.

'_Oi, where do you think you're going?' _her hollow said without turning to face her. _'They're going to be in there too.'_

'It doesn't matter!' She stopped running. 'We can't do anything but run anymore! Even if the three of us combined our powers, we wouldn't be able to defeat them.'

'_And running will defeat them?' _it asked. _'As a hollow myself, I know that hollows will pursue targets. Hollows don't give up searching. What hope do you have to survive by running?'_

'Rukia's right' Sode no Shirayuki said, earning an annoyed look from the hollow. 'We are left with the choice of attacking or retreating. Attacking is out of the question.' The hollow scowled and was about to speak before being interrupted. 'You don't want to run do you?'

'_I would have thought that was obvious'_ it retorted. _'You are supposed to have some intelligence, aren't you?'_

'I meant that you won't let yourself run' she replied. 'You are a hollow. From what you say, it doesn't seem likely that hollows would retreat either.'

'_Wow, it almost seems like you know everything about me'_ it replied with great sarcasm.

'I am a zanpakutou' she continued. 'A zanpakutou is created for the purpose of fighting.' The hollow knew where this was going. 'Even a weapon used primarily for fighting like myself knows when a battle cannot be won and must retreat at some stage. I must also follow the reasonable wishes of my master. If Rukia wishes to run, I will accompany her because, in his situation, it is the right thing to do.' She began walking to where Rukia was standing. 'You are welcome to stay and fight them' she said to the hollow. 'Rukia, let's hurry.' Rukia nodded and began running with Sode no Shirayuki deeper into the forest.

Her hollow was left behind, still in the centre of the inner world. It looked at the approaching hollows and then looked into the darkness of the forest. It was shaking in anger. It ran into the forest after them. _'Damn them' _it said to itself while running. _'They're just trying to piss me off. They were basically asking me if I wanted to live or die right there.'_

Up ahead with Rukia and Sode no Shirayuki, there were various hollows scattered around although they weren't as concentrated at one point as they were in the centre. Rukia had no idea where she was going. She wasn't even sure if there was anything else out there. 'Shirayuki, is there anything else around here? Or is it all a forest?' she asked.

'This whole area is a forest' she replied. 'The only different area is the centre.'

'I see' Rukia said quietly. 'The forest doesn't end.' She began wondering if they would become lost. The central area was tiny compared to the forest. It might be near impossible to return to where they were. 'Shirayuki' Rukia began. 'If I end up dying here, I want you to leave me. You would be able to continue your life.'

'Rukia, if you die... I would have failed my duty as your zanpakutou' she replied. 'I know you value my life at the same level or even above your own but it is not the same for me. My life is of no significance when I compare myself to you. If you should ever fall in battle, it will be because of me.'

'That's not true.' Rukia shook her head. 'I would have failed you if that were to happen.'

'Rukia, I don't like to have this talk with you' she said. 'As a shinigami, you wouldn't understand my view but as a zanpakutou, I don't understand yours. You need to-' she began. She was suddenly grabbed by the long arm of a particularly large hollow.

'Shirayuki!' Rukia called out. After the conversation with her a little while ago, she was very nervous. She knew that if she made a single mistake right now, Shirayuki would be killed. Rukia was desperately trying to reach for her sword but her hand was shaking too much and she kept missing the hilt.

'_Do I have to do everything myself?'_ a voice said. The hollows arm was cut off and Shirayuki was released. Soon after, the hollow was killed.

'You!' Rukia was slightly surprised. 'What are you doing here?'

'_You basically forced me to come out here' _it responded. _'And what the hell's up with you? You couldn't even kill that hollow when your zanpakutou was in danger.' _Rukia looked away. _'You acted so confident when I first got here but I can see that it was only for that time.'_

'What do you know?' Rukia said quietly. 'You're just a hollow.'

'Rukia, what's wrong?' Shirayuki asked.

'I don't know' Rukia admitted. 'I only started feeling like this when I got here. It probably has something to do with those hollows.' She tried to remember if anything else had happened to her to make her feel like this. She then looked around the forest as she thought she heard a noise nearby. Sode no Shirayuki and her hollow also heard it. They all looked around and saw multiple hollows emerging from all sides. _'Damn, they caught up'_ she thought.

'We have no choice but to fight them here' Sode no Shirayuki summoned her sword. 'We only need to clear a path.'

The hollow smirked. _'You can do what you want. I can finally kill them and I don't even have to hold back. Just stay out of my way.'_ Rukia drew her sword too. As Sode no Shirayuki was fighting alongside her, she wouldn't be able to use her powers for herself. As expected, Rukia's hollow was the first to move, jumping straight into the middle of a large group of hollows. The numbers weren't in its favour but that didn't seem to stop it at all. Rukia watched and could safely conclude that they were only similar in appearance and nothing else. Initially she thought it would have been one of those things like her negative emotions that she held back or something along those lines.

'Rukia, pay attention' Sode no Shirayuki scolded her as she cut down a hollow that was headed straight for her. Rukia suddenly snapped out of her thoughts.

'S-Sorry' she apologised. She began striking down hollows that were attacking her to make up for her spacing out. It was hard to fight so many hollows at once. They weren't particularly strong but they were still powerful in their numbers. Even though they only wanted to clear a path, more and more hollows were appearing to replace the ones that they had killed. Rukia was having trouble fighting them as the majority of the hollows were targeting her. Sode no Shirayuki was doing her best to help Rukia as much as she could while her hollow continued to kill however many hollows it wanted to kill.

As more hollows were beginning to target Rukia, Sode no Shirayuki was getting too preoccupied at times to help her. Rukia was eventually overwhelmed and was knocked onto ground some distance away. She tried to get up again but she was grabbed by a hollow before she could do so. She tried to struggle out of its grip but many other hollows began swarming around her, causing her to panic.

'Rukia!' Sode no Shirayuki called out to her. She tried to get to the hollows surrounding Rukia but there were too many hollows attacking her already. Rukia's hollow was also in a similar situation. Neither of them could get to her. When there was some distance between herself and the hollows, Sode no Shirayuki pointed her sword at them. 'Tsugi no mae...' she began. Her Hakuren ability would easily be able to clear out all hollows around her. She suddenly realised something right then. _'No, I can't use it. I can't tell where Rukia is. If I use it, I'll risk killing her too.'_ She stopped charging the attack and tried to reach Rukia again. To her horror, she saw that the hollows that had taken Rukia were beginning to move away and more hollows seemed to be protecting the ones who just left.

'_Damn it' _Rukia said to herself. _'I can't get out of its grip.' _The hollow had grabbed her by both of her wrists and was dragging her along the ground. She would have used kidou to escape but she couldn't as she wasn't able to move her hands enough to be able to aim properly. She looked around, seeing that she was surrounded by many hollows. Shirayuki wouldn't be able to find her and her hollow probably didn't care that much to save her. It dawned on her that she was all alone now. Her thoughts began to move onto what was going to happen to her. Were they going to kill her, turn her into a hollow or just keep her captive? The sense of fear came over her again. She didn't want to die, not in her inner world and definitely not alone. She tried to communicate mentally with Sode no Shiarayuki. She needed to know what was happening.

'_Shirayuki!' _she yelled in her thoughts. She hoped that she would be able to hear her. It should work seeing as though she could communicate with her even when she wasn't in her inner world.

It wasn't long before she got a response. _'Rukia, are you alright?' _she immediately asked. _'I can't find you and I can't sense your reiatsu.'_

'_I'm fine for now' _Rukia replied. _'I don't know what's going to happen'_ she said with fear in her voice. _'Please, leave me! They're probably going to kill me or turn me into a hollow so please, just leave me here. If you can't reach me, it's too late for me.'_

'_I can't do that to you' _she said back. _'I will definitely rescue you. If I don't, I won't be able to forgive myself for leaving you. I'm sorry, but I must go against your wishes this time.'_

'_I don't want you to get hurt because of me' _Rukia said. She had been brought back to the centre of her inner world while she was talking to Shirayuki. There were a lot more hollows here now. She was being held up to the tree in the middle by one of the hollows so she couldn't get away but she still tried to escape anyway. Another hollow began approaching her. She struggled harder against the hollow holding her as this couldn't have been good at all. _'Please, Shirayuki, just-.' _She stopped. Her eyes couldn't have been opened much wider right now. She didn't say or do anything anymore. She should have known this would happen.

'_Rukia! What's wrong?' _Shirayuki could tell something bad had happened. All she heard afterwards was a scream of agony. She didn't hear it in her mind. It was loud enough for her to hear normally. Even Rukia's hollow stopped after hearing it. Rukia was in pain and a hell of a lot of it to make her scream like that.

Rukia couldn't stop herself from screaming. She was in so much pain right now. She was able to send some control back to her body on the outside so she could warn her friends about what was happening but the pain still continued on the outside too. In her inner world, she had been in so much pain that a single tear escaped from her eye. She was willing to give anything away in order to stop the pain. She didn't want to open her eyes to continue to look at what the hollows were doing. They were simply walking into her and then entering her body. She was unintentionally absorbing them. She didn't know what was going to happen in the end. Most likely though, she was going to become a hollow forever. After a while though, she could see her body on the outside. She had no control of her hollow form now and she could do nothing about it.

* * *

See how this chapter and the last one link like that? Now it makes it bit more sense :D

'Til next time


	32. Retalliation

Well here I am with the next chapter. I think I might try to get into the routine of updating on Wednesdays but I can't really promise anything.

Anyway, wednesday is bleach anime day so I'll discuss that a little bit. It's starting to pick up again, if only a little. This week we had Loly attempting to 'kill' Orihime. I'm not sure ripping sleeves counts as killing, it seems more like rape to me. Also Yammy appeared and did some random stuff and then Uryu appeared and that was all.

I'm not going to go into details (just in case I spoil it for people who don't read the manga. In which case, skip this little paragraph if you dont read the manga.) but the manga is getting ridiculous now. I was facepalming myself throughout the majority of that last chapter. It took all of the beginning arcs and basically threw the plot out the window. Nice going Kubo *sarcastic applause*

Well thats enough of that, time for chapter. Remember to review etc.

* * *

**Chapter 32**

**Retalliation  
**

By now Rukia had begun attacking everyone in her hollow form although; it was actually getting near impossible to recognise her now. Similar to the first time, she had no idea what she was doing. On the inside, Rukia couldn't do anything to anything to stop the hollows. She was being overwhelmed by their reiatsu that was now inside her. When combined, the reiatsu of the hollows that had gone inside her was far greater than her own. They were the ones in control.

On the outside, no one knew what was going on or how they could help Rukia in any way. They didn't know how or why but they could all feel her reiatsu growing to an insane amount. It wasn't over time either, it just kept rising. Also, her transformation hadn't stopped either, probably due to the great boost in reiatsu. The same wings had grown from her back and more of her body was getting covered by the armour-like material on her arms and legs. Curiously, every time she knocked someone back, she wouldn't follow up the attack and attempt to finish them off. She would always try to reach her sword. Everyone knew that if she reached it, she would be far more formidable. Luckily, she was easily distracted so they only had to attack her again before she reached it and then she would attack again.

* * *

_Inner world_

Sode no Shirayuki and Rukia's hollow had managed to escape the hollows by hiding in the branches of the trees. They couldn't move around much because the trees were covered in snow which would fall and alert the hollows if they did move.

'_Che, I've already had to run away and now I'm hiding from these stupid creatures' _Rukia's hollow said to itself. _'Now she's got herself captured and there are more hollows than ever. This is just perfect. Ain't you got anything to add to this?'_ it said to Sode no Shirayuki. She didn't reply which annoyed the hollow. _'Oi' _it said, trying to get a reaction.

'It's no use' Shirayuki said. 'I can't contact her. She can't hear me at all. No one is holding the sword either.'

'_And this means what?' _the hollow asked.

'If no one is holding the sword on the outside, I can't contact anyone. I can only contact Rukia that way but it is harder to do so that way' she explained. 'But right now, Rukia can't hear me.'

'_So you're saying that you're trying to bring someone in here?' _it nodded. _'Why bother?' _it said. _'Who the hell is actually going to make a difference even if they do get here? You saw what happened earlier. What difference is there between one or two more people coming here and the three of us fighting them earlier going to make?'_

'I want to save her' Shirayuki said bluntly. 'And I'll do it even if it means that I have to give up myself in the process. Zanpakutou are replaceable, our masters aren't.'

* * *

_Outside_

Rukia was getting considerably stronger every few seconds. Eventually, she would become so powerful that no one would be able to stop her. It was also becoming difficult to prevent her from reaching her sword. They needed to cause greater injuries to her each time before she would attack again. High speed regeneration wasn't helping either. She was able to heal her wounds mere seconds after getting them.

'_Rukia, what's going on with you?' _Ichigo said to himself. _'Why couldn't you tell us before this happened. You said something was happening in your inner world but that doesn't narrow it down at all.'_ While he was still thinking to himself, Rukia appeared before him and knocked him back with a powerful strike. He tried to regain his footing but the sheer force of her attack was too strong. He finally managed to stop himself from flying back further. When he stopped, he noticed he was right next to Rukia's sword. He thought could feel somethingcoming from it.

'_Ichigo' _Zangetsu said in his mind. _'I can feel the spirit of that sword trying to contact someone.'_

'_She's trying to talk to Rukia?' _Ichigo asked. _'But we can't give it back to her. She'll be unstoppable.'_

'_I am sure the spirit knows that too' _Zangetsu said. _'This must mean that she is not trying to contact her master, she is trying to bring someone inside it. With my power, I would be able to aid her in bringing you in there.'_

'_I want to go help but...'_ He looked at everyone else fighting Rukia. _'We need all the people we can get to fight her here. If I go in there, Rukia might even kill them while I'm gone.'_

'Bakudou no roku-jyuu-ichi, Rikujoukourou.' A voice snapped Ichigo out of his thoughts. Six beams of light slammed into Rukia's stomach, preventing her from moving but that didn't stop her from struggling against it. Everyone looked around. Sure enough, it was Byakuya along with Kenpachi, Unohana and Kurotsuchi with their vice-captains. Orihime was also with them. 'Kurosaki Ichigo' Byakuya began. 'That wouldn't happen to be my sister would it?'

'Uh, well it's, uh' Ichigo stuttered. He was likely going to get blamed for something if he said the real answer.

'There is no sense in lying' he said. 'She accompanied you here and I don't see her anywhere.' Lying was definitely out of the question now. He knew that this hollow-like creature was Rukia.

'My my' Kurotsuchi said. 'It appears she has undergone quite a transformation. The research material I find here never ceases to amaze me.'

'Che, you're being kicked around by this thing? Pathetic' Kenpachi smirked. 'Either you've gotten weak or this thing is pretty damn strong.' Ichigo couldn't help but scowl when he called Rukia a 'thing'. 'You three' he said to Ishida, Chad and Renji. 'Stand back. This fight's mine now.' He unsheathed his sword. He had his normal insane grin on his face. 'It's been too long since my last fight so I'm going to make this last as long as possible.' Ichigo was shocked to see that Kenpachi hadn't even taken his eye patch off.

'_What am I worried about? He'll be fine. While he's keeping her busy here, it should alright if I go and help Rukia in her inner world but from how she was acting before, I don't think I'm gonna be able to do it on my own' _Ichigo thought. He picked up Rukia's sword. When he touched it, he could definitely feel something coming from it now. When Rukia saw him pick it up, she began struggling much more than she was earlier to escape. She managed to break out of the binding spell and sprinted towards Ichigo. Maybe she couldn't tell that it was him who picked it up.

'Oi, where're you going?' Kenpachi said. He held his sword out and pointed it at her. 'I'm fighting you.' She seemed to ignore him and kept heading towards Ichigo. 'Heh, just like me...' he began. 'COMPLETELY INSANE!!!' He unleashed an incredibly powerful slash that almost completely cut her in half. She was knocked back some distance but once again, high speed regeneration kicked in so the attack had little effect. Just then she had been inches away from death so Ichigo was actually relieved to see the regeneration this time. Rukia attacked him almost instantly after recovering. She seemed desperate to get her sword back.

'Byakuya, before this happened, Rukia said something was happening in her inner world' Ichigo said to him as he held out Rukia's sword. 'Zangetsu says I can go in and help her. From the look of the pain she felt earlier, something isn't right in there so I'm not doing it all myself.' He gave him the sword briefly. 'Oi, Renji, get over here.'

'What now?' he asked irritably.

'Well-' he was cut off by the sound of something hitting the floor. He turned around and saw that Byakuya had gone and Rukia's sword was lying on the floor. 'That bastard, he left without us!'

* * *

_Inner world_

Byakuya appeared in Rukia's inner world. Being unfamiliar with it, he looked around, analysing the area. From what he could see, there was nothing but trees.

'_You brought someone here, now do something about it' _a voice said from the trees. Instinctively, he looked up there but, of course, no one was there.

'I apologise' a voice said from behind. 'I initially expected someone else.' Byakuya turned and saw Sode no Shirayuki. 'I am Sode no Shirayuki, Rukia's zanpakutou. You are... Kuchiki Byakuya, correct?' He nodded. 'I presume that you have seen what has happened to Rukia.'

'Why is she a hollow once again?' he asked. 'She was back to normal some time ago.'

'_That would partially be my doing' _Rukia's hollow said from one of the branches before jumping down.

'I see.' Byakuya drew his sword. 'If you are the cause, I simply need to defeat you.'

'_Oh? It seems that you haven't noticed my appearance' _it said. Other than the reversed colours on it, it did look exactly like Rukia.

'You only have her appearance' he said. 'As far as I'm concerned, you're just using her form to save yourself.' Byakuya attacked the hollow, who was able to block.

'_You wouldn't kill me if you knew what it would do to her' _it smirked. '_I'm her inner hollow. Killing me will be like tearing her soul apart.'_

'I'm afraid that it is telling the truth' Shirayuki said. 'It has become part of Rukia's soul now.' Knowing this, Byakuya lowered his sword.

'Oi, Byakuya' Ichigo called when he finally appeared with Renji. He was explaining everything to everyone else before he went in which was why it took so long. 'Don't just leave us like that. You aren't the only one who wants to help.' Ichigo couldn't help but frown at the inner hollow too, who simply smirked in response. 'Anyway, what's actually going on here? This isn't the place that we appeared in last time.'

'I don't know why, but not too long ago, a hollow appeared here' Shirayuki began.

'A hollow?' It got in here?' Ichigo asked in surprise. Shirayuki nodded.

'A short time after that, more of them began to appear' she continued. 'They began attacking us while we tried to get away and we had to fight them when we got surrounded. Rukia was captured by them and I could do nothing to help her. Afterwards, I heard Rukia cry out in pain. She isn't responding to me anymore so I don't know what happened to her.'

'_Most of the hollows disappeared when she got herself taken away but there're still some around here' _the hollow said.

'Why're you helping? You're a hollow too' Ichigo said.

'_Surely you know about inner hollows' _it smirked. _'I can't take over her body when something else is using it. I'll help you all now so that everything is clear for me later.'_

'If you use Rukia's body for yourself at any time, I swear I'll kill you' Ichigo threatened it.

'_Well whatever' _it shrugged. _'I'm not the threat here yet.'_

'We can't waste any more time here' Shirayuki said. 'We need to rescue Rukia.'

'Yeah, she's still in trouble' Renji said. 'Where is she?'

'I couldn't sense her at first but I can feel her reiatsu going out of control now' Shirayuki said. 'I am fairly sure that she is in the central area. We should head there as soon as possible.'

'Her reiatsu keeps rising on the outside too' Ichigo remembered. 'Maybe what's happening on the outside means it's starting from in here.' He suddenly got a vision in his mind of Rukia's hollow form. _'If_ _that's true then she... no, she wouldn't let herself become a hollow here. I just hope I'm right about this.'

* * *

_

_Outside_

Kenpachi couldn't be any happier than he was right now. He was enjoying his current fight against Rukia's hollow form and considered it to be one of his most interesting fights as she healed herself after every hit.

Ishida and Chad had explained all they knew to everyone but Kenpachi as he wasn't listening and he also wouldn't care.

'Kuchiki-san is going to be alright isn't she?' Orihime asked worriedly. 'She couldn't fight off the hollow from last time at all.'

'Don't worry, Inoue' Ishida said. 'Kurosaki, Abarai and Kuchiki-taichou will definitely be able to save her. '

Back at the fight, Rukia was still trying to reach her sword whenever she wasn't being attacked but Kenpachi didn't seem to notice what she was doing at those times. After he attacked her before she got there again did he realise what she was doing. 'Heh, you should have said you were trying to get that sword.' He stopped attacking her for a moment. 'Go ahead and take it. It'll just make this fight even better.' She seemed to look at him strangely as if she was trying to make sure he wouldn't attack. After a little while, she began making her way towards it.

'Oi, you can't let her get her sword!' Ishida yelled at Kenpachi. 'She'll be too powerful.'

'Keep out of this' Kenpachi dismissed him instantly. 'I don't care what happens as long as I get a good fight.' Rukia reached her sword and picked it up. She stared at it for a while before turning around to face her opponent again. She swung it to the side and it suddenly became pure white with a white ribbon on the end of the hilt. Not wasting any time, she rushed forward again to attack Kenpachi who was eagerly awaiting it.

* * *

_Inner world_

As they were making their way through the forest, Sode no Shirayuki suddenly stopped when she heard something.

'_Please... help me... Shirayuki.' _ It was Rukia. She sounded desperate, almost begging. Why was she only hearing her voice now? She realised why this was fairly quickly.

'_What's up with you?' _the hollow asked. _'You were the one who wanted to rescue her so bad and now you're stopping?'_

'She's using my power' Shirayuki said. Ichigo and Renji's eyes widened.

'You mean... she reached it?' Ichigo said in shock. Shirayuki nodded. _'Kenpachi, what are you doing out there?!'_ Ichigo realised that he had either lost or he had just let her take it. Since this was Kenpachi, it would definitely be the latter. He probably wouldn't think it was fair if she didn't have a sword.

'I can hear her' she said. 'She's begging me to help her. We have to be careful now. Whenever she uses any of my abilities outside, I won't be at full strength'

'Can't you make it so she can't use shikai on the outside?' Ichigo asked.

'I would be able to but it takes a lot of power for me to do so' she explained. 'It would be likely that she would keep trying to release it if I stopped her. I wouldn't be able to hold it back for a long time.' They continued a little further and found the clearing where Rukia's reiatsu was coming from. Sure enough, the hollow population was largely concentrated here.

'Look at them, they're everywhere' Ichigo whispered.

'How are we going to fight them?' Renji asked. 'If we attack one, they'll all start attacking.'

'_You got a better plan?' _the hollow asked. So far, it liked the idea of mindlessly attacking them.

'I have an idea of what we could do' Shirayuki said.

* * *

You can catch their awesome plan next time :D

Til next time


	33. Vs the Hollows

I would have updated this some time last week but the charger wire thingy for my laptop broke so I couldnt charge my laptop at all so it just ran out of batteries.I've got nothing to say here so just read the chapter and do whatever.

* * *

**Vs. the Hollows**

'So all we have to do is find Rukia right?' Ichigo said. 'If we can find her first, we can make sure she's safe and take care of the hollows afterwards.'

'_I don't care what you're all doing' _the hollow smirked. _'I'll be the only hollow here by the end of it anyway.'_ They were interrupted when the whole of the inner world seemed to shake as if there was an earthquake.

'What's going on now?' Renji asked out loud.

'I'm not sure' Sode no Shirayuki said. 'I don't know what this is.'

'The inner world is beginning to collapse' Byakuya said. Everyone looked at him in confusion. 'You can feel Rukia's reiatsu right now, can't you? It is becoming too much for her body to withstand.'

'So what will happen when her inner world collapses?' Ichigo asked, dreading the answer.

'Rukia will die' Shirayuki said quietly. 'Everything inside her inner world will be destroyed. We would be able to escape before that happens but Rukia would be left behind even if we do defeat all of these hollows.'

'_So if that happens, I'm dead too, aren't I' _the hollow said. Shirayuki nodded.

'We need to stop Rukia's reiatsu from increasing before that happens' she explained. 'We must act as quickly as possible.'

'Okay, we need to finish up as soon as we can' Ichigo said while drawing his sword. 'Even if this place is collapsing, I'll stop at nothing to rescue her.'

'You're not taking all the glory this time' Renji said as he also drew his sword. 'You're not the only one here either.'

Byakuya silently drew his sword. _'I will protect you this time, Rukia'_ he said to himself.

''Yon no mae, Fubuki' Sode no Shirayuki said. The entire area became covered in a heavy snowstorm. Strangely, everyone but the hollows could see just fine. 'I can designate who this ability affects' she explained. 'You don't need to worry about visibility. The hollows shouldn't be able to tell where we are but it doesn't mean we can simply sneak past them.'

'Yeah I get it' Renji said. 'We're gonna have to kill a couple of em anyway.'

'Alright, let's go' Ichigo said as they all got ready to begin fighting. They all picked hollows to dispatch and attacked them. _'Hold on Rukia, we're coming as fast as we can.'_

'_This snowstorm won't last for a long time' _Shirayuki thought to herself. _'I just hope that we can find Rukia before it's too late.' _She tried to talk to Rukia again. _'Rukia, we're coming to save you. Please just hold on a little longer.'_ She wasn't sure if Rukia would actually respond but she just wanted Rukia to at least know she was going to be safe soon.

So far, no one had used bankai. If they did, they would be able to kill the hollows quicker but they couldn't risk adding the huge amount of reiatsu that would be released into the atmosphere. The hollows could easily be beaten without bankai anyway. After all, they weren't trying to eliminate all of the hollows; they were just killing enough of them to get to Rukia.

The sheer amount of the hollows made it very tempting to use bankai but everyone was still managing just fine without it. It was at this time that the snowstorm cleared and the hollows began to fight back more. Before, they couldn't see who was attacking them which made them easier to kill. Now that they were fighting back, it would be a little harder. From what they could tell right now, Rukia's reiatsu hadn't dropped at all. It was still increasing but it wasn't quite as fast as it was earlier. Maybe it wasn't the amount of hollows that was causing this. It seemed more likely that the hollows were doing something else. Finally, Ichigo released his bankai.

'_It should be alright to use my bankai' _he thought. _'It's a compression of reiatsu so it shouldn't release a lot into the inner world.'_ They could tell that now, they were getting closer to Rukia. Using his bankai's speed and power, Ichigo was able to make short work of many hollows. They all eventually saw that a large group of hollows were all standing in one area, just in front of a tree in the middle of the clearing. That was where Rukia's reiatsu was coming from.

'_Rukia is in the middle of those hollows' _Shirayuki thought. _'Rukia, you're going to be fine.'_ Everyone was now fighting much harder against these last few hollows. Just this last group remained before Rukia was safe. They didn't intend to kill them all but they had no choice now as Rukia was surrounded by them. Now they could tell that Rukia's reiatsu was increasing at a much slower rate than before. The massive group of hollows was beginning to get thinner but there were still several more. Curiously, these ones weren't attacking. They seemed pre-occupied with something.

Eventually, they killed enough of the hollows so that they could actually see Rukia now. By this time though, they wished that they hadn't.

'What the hell...?' Ichigo and Renji began. Rukia looked fine but that wasn't really the point. She was on the ground, unconscious and leaning against the central tree. What they were horrified to see was that the hollows were just walking into her body. She looked like she was in a lot of pain.

'These hollows...' Renji began in anger. 'They've got some nerve. Bankai!' he yelled. 'Hihiou Zabimaru!'

'Renji, let's get the rest of 'em together' Ichigo said as he raised his sword. 'They need to be stopped.'

'Unforgivable' Byakuya said to himself. The three of them cut down the remaining hollows with ease. They already knew that Rukia's reiatsu was so high now because of the hollows but at least they stopped them from increasing it further. The inner world was safe from collapsing on itself but now they needed to reduce the hollow reiatsu inside of Rukia.

'Oi, Rukia' Ichigo reached his hand out to her to try to wake her up.

'Don't touch her' Sode no Shirayuki warned them. 'I can't contact Rukia at all. Something isn't right.'

'What do you mean?' Renji asked.

'I only sense hollow reiatsu coming from her' Shirayuki said. 'I think that she might have no control of her body.'

'_This is just ridiculous' _the hollow sighed. _'These hollows move in here and then they take over her body without a fight. How the hell can she beat me and then go and get captured by these stupid things anyway?'_

'Because she's stronger than you' Ichigo said. 'She was captured because you were all surrounded.'

'_Stronger than me?' _it asked sarcastically. _'Don't make me laugh. Anyway, why bother waiting around. We saved her didn't we? You three can all go back.'_

'_I won't allow that' _another voice said. Everyone looked around to see where it had come from but then they knew the only place it could have actually come from: Rukia. She was standing up now. Her eyes were yellow and her sclera were pitch-black. She was completely taken over by all the hollows inside her. _'You ruined our plan to destroy this girl from the inside like Aizen ordered us to.'_

'Aizen did this?!' Ichigo exclaimed. 'How?'

'_Remember the hollows she killed before reuniting with you?' _'Rukia' said. _'They weren't killed. Instead they turned into reiatsu which she then absorbed. That was when we appeared. Now, while we're here, what will you do now?' _Everyone remained was a good point. The hollows were actually controlling Rukia. They couldn't think of a way to stop them without killing Rukia too. _'I thought so' _she said. _'In that case, I can just kill you all with ease... or, I could just torment you all a little more.' _

'Get out of Rukia's body' Shirayuki said. 'You gain nothing from doing this.'

'_You think so?' _she asked. _'You couldn't be more wrong. We hollows have gained the body of a shinigami and all the powers that come with it, including yours.'_ She summoned her unreleased sword and held it out in front of her. _'Return to the sword, woman.'_ Shirayuki did nothing in response. _'That was an order. Zanpakutou follow orders. Return to it, now.'_ Still, Shirayuki did nothing.

'You are not Rukia' Shirayuki said. 'You can't give me orders.'

'Yeah, cut the crap so that we can get you out of Rukia's body' Ichigo said. Rukia ignored him.

'_If you won't follow orders, I'll have to force you to obey them' _she threatened. She dropped the sword on the floor. Everyone was curious as to what it would do now. She lifted her foot up and stepped on the flat edge of the blade. The weight of her body was pressing down on it causing it to bend slightly.

'What are you planning now?' Renji asked. Although everyone knew what she was attempting to do, they didn't know about the immediate effect. Sode no Shirayuki suddenly coughed up blood which stained the snow on the ground. Everyone realised what Rukia was doing now. Sode no Shirayuki was Rukia's zanpakutou which meant that the sword being stepped on now was like a second part of herself. She was feeling the pain that the sword would have felt. If it broke now, she would die.

'Oi, stop it!' Ichigo yelled at her.

'_Make me' _she taunted. Ichigo stepped forward to do so but Rukia just pressed her foot down on it harder. Shirayuki put her hand over her stomach. Her clothes were becoming stained by the blood coming from underneath. She fell to the ground on one knee, withstanding the pain for now. _'You all have three choices' _Rukia said. _'One: you can kill me and save the sword meaning that the shinigami I control dies with me. Two: you can let me break the sword so that you might have a chance of stopping me. Or three: she returns to the sword so both the sword and the shinigami survive. Choose.' _

All three choices were bad. Rukia or Shirayuki would be killed in the first two choices but the third choice meant that the hollow would take Shirayuki's power too. If they did nothing, she would continue pressing down on the sword until it eventually broke. Rukia thought it would be best to pressure them by pressing down more. Shirayuki once again coughed up blood but withstood the pain once again. One of the arms she had over her stomach went limp this time. She also moved her other hand upwards slightly to some of her now broken ribs. She wouldn't be able to last much more of this punishment.

'What do we do?' Ichigo asked Renji and Byakuya. 'We can't let it do any of those things.'

'_I like the way that I'm not included in this' _Rukia's hollow said sarcastically. _'But you have to admit that these hollows have much better ideas about what to do with her body than I do. Torturing her seems like a good idea right now.'_

'Shut up you. You're not helping' Renji said. They continued to try to decide what to do.

'Very well' Sode no Shirayuki said as she closed her eyes. She then disappeared from in front of them. The sword Rukia was stepping on turned into its released state. She then took her foot off of it and picked it up. Everyone was speechless. Shirayuki hadn't said anything to any of them. Did she know what she had just done by doing that?

'_Much better'_ she smirked.

* * *

Hollows can be so evil even if they're in Rukia's body.

Yeah, so, review or whatever and I'll update whenever.


	34. Backup

I don't own Bleach or the characters except for Rukia's hollow and Sayumi. I own them because I created them for this story.

In this chapter, Rukia's hollow is referred to as 'it' while Rukia (despite being used by hollows right now) will still be referred to as 'she.'

* * *

**Backup**

Everyone was standing there in silence as they watched 'Rukia' inspecting her sword. They still had no idea why Sode no Shirayuki had gone back to it without telling them anything.

'_How come I'm not allowed to use that and this thing is?' _Rukia's hollow whined. _'This just isn't fair anymore.'_ Everyone ignored its whining which seemed to annoy it more. Rukia continued inspecting the sword.

'_It seems powerful and all, but how do I use it?' _she said out loud. _'Someone is going to tell me what it can do or one of you will die right here.'_ Obviously, no one told her what it could do because they might be able to take advantage of the fact that she didn't know anything about it. _'No answer? Perhaps this might make you talk.' _She held her hand out in front of her. A dark energy ball thing formed there. Everyone got ready to defend against it but Rukia just smirked at their response. She looked up at the sky and so did everyone else. Small holes were opening up and hollows began pouring out of them.

'What? Hollows?' Ichigo exclaimed. 'We just killed all of them.'

Rukia laughed to herself. _'The hollows are made of reiatsu. They are just absorbed back into the environment so they will keep coming back for as long as this shinigami is alive.' _ She looked up at the sky as all the hollows were still emerging. _'It won't be long now. Tell me what this sword can do. Now' _she said a little more forcefully.

'None of us are going to tell you what it can do so you might as well shut the hell up and die already' Renji said. Rukia smirked a little.

'_Fubuki' _she said. Her sword glowed and a blizzard suddenly formed so she couldn't be seen.

'What the hell?' Ichigo exclaimed. 'How the hell could it do that?'

'_You forget that the spirit is in my possession now.' _Everyone could hear her voice clearly. _'If you won't tell me, I can force her to do so instead. Now, while the hollows keep you busy, I'll be learning more about this sword.' _She laughed as they heard her footsteps get further away. No one could do anything about it though since they couldn't see her but they knew that she could see them. Many hollows came down and surrounded them. They weren't protected by the blizzard though.

'_This is pissing me off!' _the hollow yelled. _'I haven't even got a fucking sword anymore because of these fucking hollows!'_ Although usually fairly calm, the hollow was now uncharacteristically annoyed. _'Why the fuck did I let that bitch throw my sword away anyway?' _it thought to itself. Since it was practically forced to do what Rukia said, it had no choice but to follow what she said. _'She probably made me do it so I wouldn't be strong enough to beat her in the future' _it said to itself again.

'Will you stop yelling about everything and actually do something for once?' Ichigo yelled at it. 'If you spent as much time killing hollows as you did complaining, we'd be out of here by now.'

'_Che, fine'_ it said. _'I can go all out if only for this one time.'_ It closed its eyes and focused its reiatsu which seemed to rise sharply soon after. Its hair seemed to grow longer and wilder, two sets of wings grew out of its back and its hands and feet became like razor sharp talons. It now looked like what Rukia looked like on the outside now excluding the full mask. _'You should be thanking me for this' _it finally said. _'I'm using most of the reiatsu that your friend is exerting on the outside. Combined with the fact that Shirayuki's shikai is released here, she should have little to no reiatsu left out there.'_

Just as Rukia's hollow had said, Rukia on the outside had lost a lot of reiatsu. To everyone on the outside, it seemed like she had suddenly lost all of it because of something Ichigo might have done. Kenpachi was quick to notice that her attacks, even with a released Sode no Shirayuki were becoming considerably weaker.

'Rukia-san, is everything alright in your inner world now?' Sayumi said to herself. 'Your reiatsu was so high when you transformed but now it's almost completely gone.' She couldn't help but worry for Rukia's safety. After all, Rukia was the reason that she even existed now. 'Please be alright, Rukia-san' she said quietly.

'Um, excuse me for only asking now but, who are you?' Orihime said to her. She had noticed her earlier but she didn't know if she was hostile or not. She had only just heard her mention Rukia so she thought she wouldn't be an enemy.

'My name is Sayumi' she replied. 'I was created by Rukia-san.'

'I see' Orihime responded. 'I didn't think you would be friendly at first because I saw that you were an arrancar.'

'Don't worry about it' she said. 'No one trusted me at first either even when I told them that I was going to help them.' She looked back to where Rukia's hollow form was fighting Kenpachi. 'I just hope Rukia-san is going to be alright.'

_Inner World_

Everyone was killing the hollows with ease but every time that they killed a batch of them, they would reform again. The blizzard was still surrounding them which meant that Rukia was out there somewhere, most likely learning everything about Sode no Shirayuki by any means possible.

'_Shit, we can't keep this up forever'_ Ichigo said to himself. _'Every time we kill a load of them, we get tired and then they just appear again. If too many of them appear again, Rukia will start getting overwhelmed by the amount of reiatsu in here again.'_

'Ichigo! Stop spacing out and start killing them!' Renji yelled to him. He used his own sword to take out some hollows before they could reach Ichigo. 'That's what you get when you don't pay attention.'

'Renji, look out!' Ichigo yelled as he saw more hollows jumping to attack him now. Neither of them could react in time to kill them. Byakuya and Rukia's hollow were preoccupied with other groups of hollows. Just before they could hit him though, something extended towards them and knocked the hollows away.

'What? Who?' Renji exclaimed. His eyes widened as he saw that the thing that knocked the hollows away looked strikingly similar to his own sword. It retracted back to where it came from.

'Oi, Renji. Looks like you're beginning to lose it' a female with a masculine sounding voice said.

'You didn't forget about us did you Renji!' a male child's voice said.

'Y-y-you guys?' Renji stuttered. 'What the hell? How the hell did you get here?' As both Ichigo and Renji expected, the manifested forms of Zabimaru were standing before them. The monkey and snake halves were both holding the sword which had just saved him. They didn't get along very well a lot of the time but they would always do what they wanted even though they didn't always like what the other half was doing. They had a habit of calling each other Chimpette and Snakey.

'This is an inner world remember?' Chimpette said. 'What's so different about this one and our one?'

'It's freezing here' Snakey shivered. 'I like our place better.'

'The point is that we came to help out since you seemed to be having such a hard time' the monkey half finished.

'If your zanpakutou spirit can come here, mine can too' Ichigo said to Renji. _'Old man Zangetsu, I need you out here!'_ he yelled, making sure that Zangetsu would be able to hear him. Sure enough, shortly after, the black clothed man appeared in front of him. Byakuya, who was watching did the same and called for Senbonzakura to come out to help.

'You called, master?' the armoured samurai asked when he appeared.

'We have a job to do' Byakuya stated bluntly.

'I see' Senbonzakura said as he looked around. 'Allow me to assist everyone.' Rukia's hollow just looked at the newly summoned zanpakutou spirits.

'_Well at least we've got some extra backup' _it said to itself. _'Oi, leave them here to get rid of the hollows' _it said to everyone else. _'You three go and find her on the outside of that blizzard.'_

'Ichigo, that is probably the best course of action' Zangetsu told him. 'We can keep these hollows under control.'

'Yeah, do what he says, Renji' Snakey said. 'None of these hollows are gonna get past us.' Senbonzakura simply nodded to Byakuya.

'What're you gonna do?' Ichigo said to Rukia's hollow.

'_I'm helping out here' _it replied. _'I don't want the last thing I do on this little rescue mission to actually be rescuing someone. I'd rather be killing something instead.'_

'_Well, at least her hollow doesn't seem as bad as mine'_ Ichigo said to himself. 'Alright. Renji, Byakuya let's go.'


	35. The real chapter 35

Okay, time to sweep what happened before under the rug. I deleted the shameful chapter and rewrote it. I blame it all on the biology exam now. It was incredibly easy so I got worked up over nothing (whether it was due to revision still baffles me). It's still a little on the short side and it still remains largely the same but there is visible effort with this chapter.

Also, if you are reading the revies for this chapter, ignore them. They are from when I was being an idiot.

So here is the real chapter 35.

* * *

"You really took your time, didn't you" Rukia said as she noticed the three of them approaching. "Those hollows seemed rather mediocre."

"I'm only going to say this once"' Ichigo threatened. "Get out of Rukia's body _now_."

"Why would I do that?" she replied lazily.

"Because we're gonna force you out of her and kick your ass if you don't!" Renji yelled at her.

"I can't help but find that humorous" Rukia responded. "It's too late for you to extract me from her body. If she had some form of control, it might be possible but the point is that she doesn't." She then smirked. "I also know that you won't fight me. Unlike that hollow you were with earlier, I _am_ Rukia. You wouldn't bring yourselves to put her in any form of harm." No one moved. It was telling the truth and they had no way of knowing how to get this hollow out of her without killing her. How could they help her if they didn't know how they could actually help her? Rukia was quick to notice that no one intended to cause any harm to her. "If you won't fight back, it just makes it easier for me to get rid of you." She held out her sword and began charging for Hakuren. Everyone was able to jump out of the way with relative ease.

"_Damn it, we can't risk hurting her too badly but we can't just dodge forever" _Ichigo said to himself. "Bankai!" he exclaimed. To his shock, nothing happened. "What the-? What's going on?"

Rukia simply laughed to herself. "How quickly you forget. None of your zanpakutou spirits are inside their respective swords except for mine. That is a rather large inconvenience wouldn't you say: Leaving them to fight those pathetic hollows when you need them now."

"We're just gonna have to do this on our own" Renji said. "Or at least hold her off until they can finish up."

"When you tried to release you bankai back then, I thought you were going to be serious" Rukia commented. "Now you're talking about buying time for yourselves? Pathetic."

"Zangetsu may not be inside of my sword right now, but it's still in shikai right now" Ichigo told her. "I can still fight with it. Which means I can still do this! Getsuga Tenshou!" Light blue reiatsu emanated from the blade as he lifted it above his head. He then swung it down and released it towards her. Curiously, she did nothing but watch as it approached. She didn't even dodge it when it actually hit her either. Ichigo was shocked. Was she going to let the attacks hit her so they would actually hurt Rukia? As she was hit though, she shattered into ice crystals showing that it was actually some sort of ice illusion.

"What? Where did she go?" Renji exclaimed.

"You're just making this too easy for me" Rukia taunted. Everyone turned around to see her behind them. "Tsuki Shiro." Obviously, this was incredibly bad. Snow was covering the ground so no one had any way of knowing where the circle actually was. It didn't matter at all though. The circle was placed directly at the point where they were standing and the column formed without any warning whatsoever. Of course, all three of them were trapped by it. Rukia simply smirked as she admired her work. She chose not to shatter the column as that might free them with only minor injuries at best. She was about to turn away until she sensed reiatsu coming from someone that wasn't frozen. "Oh, I see that you managed to escape somehow, nii-sama." She smiled. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to rescue Rukia" he said bluntly. He had managed to escape by using the technique Yoruichi had taught him. He used it as soon as Rukia said the name of what she was about to do.

"The only way to do that would be to kill her" she explained. "Like I said earlier, you won't fight me." Contrary to what she just said, Byakuya appeared directly in front of her and clashed swords with her.

"If that is what it will take to free her, so be it" he said. "I'm sure that she would want to be killed if she knew that she was in the position that she is now."

"You really would kill her in order to kill me?" Rukia said with some surprise in her voice. "How strange. I wonder what Hisana would say." Byakuya's eyes widened significantly after hearing the mention of his wife and Rukia's sister. Seeing this opening, Rukia was able to push him back. "This time, you will stay frozen. I should have known that you wouldn't really kill me anyway."

She began charging up another Hakuren before he had even recovered from being pushed back. It would undoubtedly hit him. However, before she finished charging, something about her changed. She suddenly shut her eyes tightly and gripped her head tightly with her hands, dropping her sword. As soon as it hit the floor, Sode no Shirayuki reformed in her materialised form.

"Rukia! You can overcome it!" she yelled to her. Rukia took her hands away from her head slowly and opened her looked up in shock as she noticed what she had done. She didn't know how it had happened but she was back in control.

"Nii-sama" she said quietly. She looked around and saw the ice column she had created earlier. "Ichigo! Renji!" she yelled when she saw them trapped in it. She willed the column to be destroyed right there so that they were free again. "I'm so sorry." She looked down at the ground in shame. "I couldn't do anything and I got you all in trouble again."

"It wasn't your fault" Ichigo assured her. "It was Aizen again. He seems determined to ruin your life."

"_He's already done that" _Rukia said to herself. She knew that if she said it out loud, she would start a conversation that had already happened twice before (Chapter 22 and 29). "Shirayuki" she said to her. "You came back to me even though I wasn't in control?"

She nodded. "I knew that you couldn't control what you were doing so I thought that the only way to save you would be by giving my power to the hollow."

"You could have told us that before doing that you know" Ichigo said to her.

"The hollow would have known what I was doing if I tried to tell you" she explained. "It was too focused on using my power that it didn't notice that I was helping Rukia."

"Well I suppose that we're done here" Renji said. "Come on. Let's get out zanpakutou spirits and go."

"See you when we get out" Ichigo said to Rukia who nodded in response

"_I know that I'm in control now but I can still feel the hollows inside of me"_ she said to herself. _"I_ _don't know if any of them will be able to take control of me again."_ As she was thinking to herself, she suddenly froze in shock. _"I... I remember now. What I did as an arrancar."

* * *

_Yeah, it's still largely the same but theres a new twist at the end :D

So for real this time...

'til next time.


	36. Lead me

This is the next chapter, yay! I'm aware that I havent updated for a while so I'll explain why. After finishing my exams, I took a week long break and didn't do anything for that week. So yeah, here we are with this chapter.

I must say though, after watching some of the World Cup, I'm ashamed to be English right now. They're playing ridiculously bad. I don't even like football but I can tell that they suck. England were supposed to be good at football :/.

Also this week, I found that reviwer of this story, KaijiShigeru, is someone that I know :D. We both like similar anime but some of our character preferances in said anime are different eg. in Bleach, everyone knows my favourite character is Rukia to a great extent. KaijiShigeru's favourite Bleach character is Soifon to a similar extent. It must be a coincidence but I also like Soifon and he also likes Rukia :P. This is a little unrelated but he published a story with the two of them as the main characters which I found amusing so you can check that out I guess.

This chapter is not short because I couldn't be bothered. This chapter's origin is from the Rammstein song "Führe mich" (Lead me). I'm currently in love with this song and seeing as though it's in german, I looked up the lyrics and found that they fit this story quite well (Seeing as though I do german myself, I knew some of it :D) Anyway, I guess you could say that it's a song chapter. The lyrics are underlined with their translations in brackets (also underlined).

* * *

**Chapter 36**

**Lead me**

Du bist mir ans Herz gewachsen

Wenn ich blute hast du Schmerzen

(You have grown in my heart

When I bleed you have pains)

I know that this hollow is inside of me now. I can't get rid of it and we're both the same. There's some sort of link between us as mine and its soul are practically combined. If it uses my body and gets hurt, I feel the pain. The opposite is also true

Wir müssen uns kennen

Ein Körper, zwei Namen

(We must know ourselves

One body, two names)

I'm a shinigami and a hollow hybrid of sorts. The only thing similar about us is the fact that we share the same body. It doesn't have a name as far as I know so I just refer to it as 'it'. I only become a hollow when I put the mask back on. Even then, I have no control over it. As a result of that, I lose myself in the process.

Du bist mir ans Herz gebaut

Zwei Seelen spannen eine Haut

Und wenn ich rede bist du still

Du stirbst wenn ich es will

(You are constructed at my heart

Two souls span one skin

And when I speak you are silent

You die when I want)

We have a sort of understanding with each other. When I'm in control, it isn't allowed to do anything. However, the same applies when it is in control. I know I'm the dominant one seeing as though I defeated it before but I know that it's strong so it could fight back. I can choose when it dies but that requires me to kill myself too.

Zwei Bilder nur ein Rahmen

Ein Körper doch zwei Namen

Zwei Dochte eine Kerze

Zwei Seelen in einem Herzen

(Two pictures, only one frame

One body, yet two names

Two wicks, one candle

Two souls in one heart)

We are practically the same. All there is to it is that we are two souls united in one body so we share everything including my body.

Führe mich (_Führe mich),_ halte mich (_halte mich)_

Ich fühle dich _(Ich fühle dich)_, _(Verlass mich nicht) _ich verlass Dich nicht

(Lead me, hold me

I feel you, (Don't abandon me) I won't abandon you)

_She defeated me when I tried to take over so she's the one in command until she chooses to let me out. I can feel her when she's in control yet I can also feel her when I'm in control. Maybe this is what it means to have two souls in one body. She doesn't want me to abandon her. She needs my power so she can be stronger. I need her to live. Without her, I'd die.  
_

_I don't intend to abandon her either.

* * *

_I guess this is a filler chapter of sorts seeing as though nothing happened. My reason for this is because I just had an idea while listening to the song so I thought I could share it with you all.

Anyway, 'til next time


	37. Chapter 37

Next chapter, yay! I couldn't think of a title ;_;

We get a flashback at one point and it involves Rukia from when she first became an arrancar (all those chapters ago :D). It takes place after the events of chapter 13.

* * *

**Chapter 37**

Rukia slowly opened her eyes. Her hollow form had gone and she was just left lying on the floor. Near the end of what was happening in her inner world, Kenpachi lost interest while fighting her as she was getting considerably weaker as time progressed.

"Good to see that you recovered" Ichigo said. "You alright now?" Rukia nodded.

"I'll be fine" she responded. "I... remembered something that I did from when I was an arrancar" she said. "I don't know how. It just came to me a little while ago."

"Anything helpful?" Ichigo asked.

"It helped Aizen" she said quietly. "It's the reason why he's in Karakura town right now with no one standing against him." Everyone looked shocked to learn this. More importantly, how could she be so sure of it if she wasn't in her body at the time when she was an arrancar?

_Flashback_

"Damn it" (Hollow) Rukia said to herself. "Why didn't I kill him when I had the chance and why did I leave like that?" She was very angry with herself as she knew that after facing Ichigo just now, she went easy on him. "He left her (the real Rukia) here to die so why couldn't I do it and just finish him off right there? Does she have some sort of influence over me? Or does she not have any real hostility to him?" She knew that her previous self did have feelings for him and that she wouldn't want to kill him even after the events that caused this to happen. "How am I even being influenced by her? She's gone from this body and she won't be coming back. I even told her to get rid of everything that made her who she was. If that's the case, she probably didn't get rid of absolutely everything. She was a pathetic fool of a shinigami anyway."

She walked down several corridors and hallways as she had been called to see Aizen for some reason.

"Ah, Rukia, you came here just as I asked" Aizen greeted her. "How did your recent fight go?"

"I couldn't kill him, Aizen-sama" she said as she knelt down on the floor. "I just couldn't do it. I think that she might have had something to do with it."

"I see" Aizen said. "Well, no matter. It's just a question of when he is finally killed. We are in no rush to do so anyway."

"Aizen-sama, may I ask why you called me here?" Rukia asked.

"Ah yes, I would like you to perform a task for me" he began."You see, I plan on starting this whole Winter War earlier than everyone in the Soul Society thinks. In order to stop them from preventing me from collecting the souls from Karakura town, I will need you to carve this seal onto the main Senkaimon to the real world." He handed her a piece of paper with a peculiar marking drawn on it. "This will prevent the Senkaimon from opening so they cannot stop me. Since they are under the impression that I could attack them at any time, the Senkaimon is always closed which makes it that much easier to perform this task."

"How do I get there?" Rukia asked. "I don't have her sword so I can't get to it."

"I can provide a passage to it for you" Aizen said. "My zanpakutou still allows me to use a senkaimon. You don't have a strict time limit as such" he explained. "The Koutotsu will not come for another few days however I wouldn't waste time as it is possible that you may be detected after a short time."

Rukia studied the seal on the paper so that she could remember it and not take more time than she needed. "I understand. I'll complete it as soon as possible."

_End Flashback_

"That seal is still there" Rukia said. "I must have started just after the Soul Society sent help for you all here. I don't know anything else about it though so I don't know how to get rid of it. And now, because of me, Aizen will succeed."

"Don't worry" Renji said. "We're going to stop him before he can finish. We're going to go there as soon as possible."

"By the way, Rukia" Ichigo began. "How come you're you even though your mask is on?" Everyone stared at him in confusion as his question didn't make a lot of sense. "Well, uh, you said earlier that you're the one in control if you don't have the mask on and your hollow's in control when it is on." Rukia brought her hand up to her face. She didn't know her mask was on until now which confused her. She moved her hand over it and then downwards. After that, she stared at her hand.

"I can't take it off" she said quietly. She kept trying to but she just couldn't take it off. _"What do you mean you can't take it off?" _she suddenly asked. Everyone looked at her like she had gone insane or something. "I-I didn't say that" she stuttered. _"Of course you didn't. That was me, you fool"_ she once again said to herself. She seemed to be having some sort of conversation with herself.

"Wait, Rukia, that's your hollow isn't it?" Ichigo asked her.

"_Who else would it be?"_ she snapped. _"Wait a minute, how can he be talking to me when I'm in here?"_ she asked. "Does this mean... we're both in control?"

* * *

Well that was slightly confusing.

And yes I am painfully aware that only four people had dialogue in this chapter. I just thought that most of the others' input wasn't really necessary.

Also, I know I said this some time ago but this is more accurate, the story is reaching its climax. I think that it'll probably be over by about chapter 40 or so (one or two above that possibly.)

'til next time


	38. The little bit before the final battle

Whoa, it's been ages since i last updated (Sorry about that I guess.) It's not that I haven't bothered, it's just that I was getting caught up in the whole summer holiday thing. Also, I wasn't here for the last three days because I was at a music festival and it was epic :D.

Also, one more thing, it's been exactly a year since I first uploaded the first chapter of this story :D. And now I must announce that there will be ONE more chapter! (Although I have plans for a sort of epilogue chapter after the next chapter.)

Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 38**

**The little bit before the final battle  
**

"_Oh great, now I have to share even more with you" _(hollow) Rukia said.

"What do you mean by that?" Ichigo asked.

"If I have the mask on, it's in control but I don't see how I still have some control" (normal) Rukia explained. "Wait, if I constantly have the mask on now, does that mean...?" She looked down at herself and prodded her stomach. She couldn't feel anything at the area that she had prodded which meant that her hollow hole was there. "Just as I thought... I'm an arrancar again. For real this time" she added quickly. (Seeing as though the last time they saw her with the mask on, she was just letting her hollow use her body for a little while.)

"Interesting" Kurotsuchi thought. "This would definitely produce more research notes on both hollows and arrancar. Now, if you'll just allow me to run a few experiments..."

"Not that I would allow you to do so anyway, Kurotsuchi" Byakuya began. "We don't exactly have the time right now."

"That's true" Unohana said softly. "Aizen left here a while ago so he must have already figured out that the Karakura town that he entered is a fake."

"Wait what?" Ichigo asked in confusion. "It's a fake?"

"To avoid fighting there and inadvertently causing damage to the real world, head captain Yamamoto told Urahara Kisuke to create a replica so that we could fight Aizen there instead" she explained. "However, in order for it to remain that way, four pillars are needed and they are weak points. If Aizen destroys them, the real Karakura town will return. Knowing Aizen though, he probably figured this out as soon as he got there."

"If that's the case, wouldn't he have already destroyed the pillars by now?" Renji asked.

"We can only hope that he hasn't" Unohana replied. "With the majority of the Gotei 13 unable to get to the real world, Aizen won't have any interruptions."

"You all seem to have forgotten that I have recently mastered the structure of the garganta and can therefore create one" Kurotsuchi interjected. "However, I regret to inform you that I will not be accompanying you. Seeing as though my zanpakutou is currently broken, I will be of little use in the battle. Though, my expertise would be better suited to researching this seal that was mentioned earlier. Perhaps I could simply remove it or study it and then use it for myself or maybe..." He continued thinking of various ways in which he could use this seal for himself.

"Yeah we get the point" Ichigo finally stopped him. "Just make the damn garganta."

"Don't rush me, boy or I may decide to leave you here" Kurotsuchi replied, slightly annoyed. "But seeing as though we're pressed for time, I'll let this slide for now." He set to work on the garganta leaving everyone with a little more time to do nothing until he finished it.

"Rukia, you sure you're alright?" Ichigo asked her.

"_You're worried about me?" _(hollow) Rukia replied with a laugh. _"Oh right, you were serious" _she said, noting his expression. _"Or were you just expecting her to respond?" _

"That's what I meant when I said 'Rukia'" he said. "You're not Rukia. You're just a hollow to me." Rukia suddenly appeared to shake off her hollow's influence.

"Don't you know by now that I don't need your help with everything? I'm fine by myself" (normal) Rukia said.

"_Like hell your fine by yourself" _she appeared to say to herself when it was actually her hollow. _"Don't start lying to everyone when they all know the truth." _She shook off the influence once again.

"_If you're going to say something, can't you just think it to yourself in my inner world?" _(normal) Rukia asked it, getting annoyed with it randomly possessing her. _"I'd probably end up hearing it anyway. Also, it stops people from thinking that I'm insane by berating myself."_

"_Not my fault" _it said to her. _"You should have thought about this before you decided to let me in here. You just wanted to be strong and in control this time didn't you?"_

"No, that's not true!" Rukia suddenly shouted out loud. Straight after her outburst, she covered her mouth. She didn't mean to say that out loud but her hollow was really annoying her. "_Now everyone's going to be getting even more worried about me"_ she thought.

"Rukia-san, a-are you alright?" Sayumi asked her in concern. Rukia didn't respond as she was arguing with her hollow right now.

"_I'll just leave you to get yourself out of this one" _her hollow said inside her head.

"_Oh, so now you leave me alone even though you're the cause of this" _Rukia said irritably.

"_Well you wanted me to leave you alone so I'm doing what you want for once so have fun" _it said. Afterwards, it sat back down on the branch of the tree that it always sat on and relaxed. It couldn't wait to see how Rukia got herself out of this one.

"Rukia, what was that about?" Renji asked her.

"Uh, well... uh, my hollow was just annoying me and it said something that wasn't true but I accidentally said it out loud" Rukia thought up quickly.

"Yeah, we noticed that" Ichigo said lazily. "We were kinda hoping that you would expand on that a little. If it made you say that out loud, it couldn't have been something small. Something's bothering you and I think we can all see that too."

"You all know me too well" she muttered. She felt that since they were asking so much about it, she might as well tell them the truth. "It said that I only did this to myself again because I wanted the power I had before. The only difference being that I would be in control. I'm not sure if it's true or not but I just want to make myself think that it isn't."

"That's it?" Ichigo asked her. She replied with a nod. "Why the hell do you get so worked up about that? Just accept whatever you want to think about it and move on."

"_Why can't he just accept the fact that I can't do that?"_ Rukia thought to herself. _"I'm not even a shinigami anymore and I can't do anything about that since I don't even know how I could turn myself back."_

"And it's... complete!" Kurotsuchi announced. The great black tunnel was wide open in front of them.

"You know, me or Sayumi could probably have made one anyway" Rukia pointed out. She felt relieved as she didn't have to explain anything else to the rest of them.

"Yes but I had to see for myself if this one is fully operational" he replied. "If it should suddenly malfunction and kill you all, then I know that I would need to make adjustments." At this point, everyone gave him a look which said 'that's not funny so don't suggest it.' "Well anyway, I'll be off now to see what I can figure out from this seal on the senkaimon. Please try to keep our enemies intact after defeating them. They'll prove to be valuable research subjects." After that, he opened a senkaimon with his zanpakutou and left along with his vice-captain.

"Someone needs to get him away from his research someday" Ichigo said. "Enough of that though. We're all ready aren't we?" He received a nod from everyone. "Good. Let's go." And with that, the group entered the garganta which closed behind them shortly after.

The walk towards the other side of this garganta was uneventful. With so many of them with their own spiritual pressures, they formed a stable pathway within seconds.

"_This will be the final battle" _Ichigo said to himself. _"Aizen will pay for all that he's done. Betraying the whole of the Soul Society, what happened to Shinji and the others, capturing Inoue and all of what he's put Rukia through. He'll pay for all of it."_ The end of the garganta was in sight now, clearly shown by the stark contrast between the light on the outside and the darkness from the garganta. The final battle against Aizen was in sight. Just a few more steps was all that stood between them.

"Kaname, Gin" Aizen said to the two of them. "It seems that they've finally arrived."

"So they have" Gin noted. "It was getting boring around here."

"We weren't looking to fight anyone while we were here, Gin" Tosen told him. "This just acts as a hindrance to our plan."

"Don't worry Kaname" Aizen stated calmly. "Their souls will simply be added to the amount we need to make the King's Key." Everyone emerged from the garganta to face Aizen. "Welcome Kurosaki Ichigo" he greeted. "I didn't expect you to be here to witness the destruction of your hometown but I'm already aware that this place is not Karakura town. However, you being here now means that I get to add all of your souls to what will eventually form the King's Key."

"You won't be making that key now or ever!" Ichigo yelled at him. "I swear that I'll defeat you once and for all."

Aizen smirked. "What chance do you think you have of defeating me when everyone down there couldn't?"

"Everyone down there?" He looked down to where Aizen had gestured. "Urahara! Shinji!" Down on the ground were all the vizards, Urahara and Yoruichi. They weren't dead but they were all incredibly worn out.

"Oh, we get reinforcements now" Urahara noted. "The other captains couldn't make it here on time it seems." Rukia looked away from them all. It was because of her that they were all like this right now.

"His espada are tough" Shinji said. "We finished them off but we're in no condition to face Aizen right now."

"Everyone, you did all you could for now" Ichigo said to them. "We'll take over for you and we'll beat him."

"I suppose that we can afford one more distraction before creating the King's Key" Aizen said. "Come, Kurosaki Ichigo and captains of the Gotei 13. Let me see your fighting prowess before they are absorbed by my ultimate goal."

* * *

I was going to combine this chapter with the next one to make a mega chapter but I thought that since I hadn't updated in so long and due to the fact that this story is one year old now, I should upload now.

Anyway, see you in the final chapters!


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